137 Street–City College
Southbound platform
Station statistics
Address	West 137th Street & Broadway New York, New York
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Hamilton Heights
Coordinates	40°49′16″N73°57′14″W / 40.821°N 73.954°W /40.821; -73.954
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus:M4,M5
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2side platforms
Tracks	3 (2 in regular service)
Other information
Opened	October 27, 1904 (121 years ago) (1904-10-27)[2]
Accessible	notADA-accessible; currently undergoing renovations for ADA access
Traffic
2024	2,561,284[3]  6.5%
Rank	136 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station 145th Street towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street Local 125th Street towardSouth Ferry
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to157th Street 145th Street 137th Street Yard 137th Street–City College to125th Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

The137th Street–City College station is a localstation on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 137th Street andBroadway inHamilton Heights neighborhood ofManhattan, it is served by the1 train at all times. The station serves the nearbyCity College of New York andRiverbank State Park.

The 137th Street station was constructed for theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of thecity's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes 137th Street began on May 14 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The station's platforms were lengthened in 1948, and the station was renovated in the late 20th century.

The 137th Street station contains twoside platforms and three tracks; the center track is not used in regular service. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Broadway's intersection with 137th Street and are not connected to each other withinfare control.

Planning for asubway line inNew York City dates to 1864.^[4]: 21 However, development of what would become thecity's first subway line did not start until 1894, when theNew York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act.^{[4]: 139–140} The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led byWilliam Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line fromNew York City Hall inlower Manhattan to theUpper West Side, where two branches would lead north intothe Bronx.^[5]: 3 A plan was formally adopted in 1897,^[4]: 148 and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.^[4]: 161

The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized byJohn B. McDonald and funded byAugust Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900,^[6] under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.^[4]: 165 In 1901, the firm ofHeins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.^[5]: 4 Belmont incorporated theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.^[4]: 182

The 137th Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now theBroadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 133rd Street to a point 100 feet (30 m) north of 182nd Street. Work on this section was conducted by L. B. McCabe & Brother, who started building the tunnel segment on May 14, 1900.^[6] The section of the West Side Line around this station was originally planned as a two-track line, but in early 1901, was changed to a three-track structure to permit train storage in the center track.^{[7]: 93 [8]: 189–190} A third track was added directly north of96th Street, immediately east of the originally planned two tracks.^[9]: 14 By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but theIRT Powerhouse and the system'selectrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening.^{[4]: 186 [10]} As late as October 26, 1904, the day before the subway was scheduled to open, the walls and ceilings were incomplete.^[11]

The 137th Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway fromCity Hall to145th Street on the West Side Branch.^{[2][4]: 186} The opening of the first subway line helped contribute to the development ofMorningside Heights andHarlem.^[12]: 8

After the first subway line was completed in 1908,^[13] the station was served by West Side local and express trains. Express trains began atSouth Ferry in Manhattan orAtlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and ended at242nd Street in the Bronx. Local trains ran from City Hall to 242nd Street during rush hours, continuing south from City Hall to South Ferry at other times.^[14] In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south ofTimes Square–42nd Street, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. The original subway north of Times Square thus became part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Local trains were sent toSouth Ferry, while express trains used the newClark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.^[15]

To address overcrowding, in 1909, theNew York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.^[16]: 168 As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $50.6 million in 2024) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $16.9 million in 2024) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.^[17]: 15 The northbound platform at the 137th Street station was extended 150 feet (46 m) to the south,^[17]: 112 while the southbound platform was not lengthened.^[17]: 106 Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910,^[16]: 168 and ten-car express trains began running on the West Side Line on January 24, 1911.^{[16]: 168 [18]} Subsequently, the station could accommodate six-car local trains, but ten-car trains could not open some of their doors.^[19]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[20][21] Platforms at IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations between103rd Street and238th Street, including those at 137th Street, were lengthened to 514 feet (157 m) between 1946 and 1948, allowing full ten-car express trains to stop at these stations.^[19] A contract for the platform extensions at 137th Street and eight other stations on the line was awarded to Spencer, White & Prentis Inc. in October 1946,^[22] with an estimated cost of $3.891 million.^[23] The platform extensions at these stations were opened in stages. On April 6, 1948, the platform extension at 137th Street opened.^[19][24] Simultaneously, the IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of"R-type" rolling stock, which containedrollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[25] The route to 242nd Street became known as the1.^[26] In 1959, all 1 trains became local.^[27]

In 1981, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.^[28] A renovation of the 137th Street station was funded as part of the MTA's 1980–1984 capital plan.^[29] The MTA received a $106 million grant from theUrban Mass Transit Administration in October 1983; most of the grant would fund the renovation of eleven stations,^[30][31] including 137th Street.^[30] BeforeBarack Obama became president of the United States, one of his first community organizing efforts after graduating fromColumbia University was in conjunction with drawing attention to the poor condition of the station. In 1984 or 1985, Obama, who was working for theNew York Public Interest Research Group, was among the leaders ofMay Day efforts to bring attention to the subway system, particularly the station serving City College. Obama traveled to stations to get people to sign letters addressed to local officials and the MTA. Obama was photographed holding a sign saying "May-Day! May-Day!! Sinking Subway System!"^[32][33]

In April 1988,^[34] theNew York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) unveiled plans to speed up service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through the implementation of askip-stop service: the9 train.^[35] When skip-stop service started in 1989, it was only implemented north of 137th Street–City College on weekdays, and it was the northernmost local stop served by both the 1 and the 9.^[36][37][38] Skip-stop service ended on May 27, 2005, as a result of a decrease in the number of riders who benefited.^[39][40]

On January 2, 2007, film student Cameron Hollopeter suffered a seizure in the station and fell off the platform onto the tracks.Wesley Autrey saved his life as a train was approaching.^[41] Autrey was given numerous awards and prizes,^[42][43] and his two daughters were given a scholarship.^[44]

In 2019, as part of an initiative to increase theaccessibility of the New York City Subway system, the MTA announced that it would install elevators at the 137th Street–City College station as part of the MTA's 2020–2024 Capital Program.^[45] In December 2022, the MTA announced that it would award a $146 million contract for the installation of eight elevators across four stations, including 137th Street.^[46] Construction efforts on the elevator project at 137th Street began in early 2024 and were expected to be completed by March 2025.^[47] The accessibility improvements were not completed by October 2025, though plans were made to widen the staircase leading to the uptown platform. An updated release fromShaun Abreu's office indicated that construction on the uptown track access would be finished in January 2026, and the downtown elevator would be in operation by the second quarter of that year.^[48]

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street(145th Street) ← alighting passengers only (select AM rush trips)
	Peak-direction express	→ No regular service
	Southbound local	→ towardSouth Ferry(125th Street) →
	Side platform

This station was part of the original subway, and has twoside platforms and three tracks, the center one being an unused express track.^[49] The station is served by the1 at all times^[50] and is between145th Street to the north and125th Street to the south.^[51] The platforms were originally 350 feet (110 m) long, like at other stations north of96th Street,^{[5]: 4 [52]: 8} but as a result of the 1948 platform extension, became 520 feet (160 m) long.^[19] The platform extensions are at the southern ends of the original platforms.^[52]: 40

As with other stations built as part of the original IRT, the station was constructed using acut-and-cover method.^[53]: 237 The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The bottom of this trough contains afoundation ofconcrete no less than 4 inches (100 mm) thick.^[52]: 9 Each platform consists of 3-inch-thick (7.6 cm) concrete slabs, beneath which are drainage basins. The original platforms contained circular, cast-ironDoric-style columns spaced every 15 feet (4.6 m), while the platform extensions containedI-beam columns. Additional columns between the tracks, spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m), support thejack-arched concrete station roofs.^{[5]: 4 [52]: 9} There is a 1-inch (25 mm) gap between the trough wall and the platform walls, which are made of 4-inch (100 mm)-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish.^[52]: 9 The columns have been overlaid with heavy brick blocks.

The decorative scheme consists of silver and blue tile tablets (which may not have been original to the station design); white tile bands; a buff terracotta cornice; and green terracotta plaques.^[52]: 40 The mosaic tiles at all original IRT stations were manufactured by the American Encaustic Tile Company, which subcontracted the installations at each station.^[52]: 31 The decorative work was performed by tile contractor Manhattan Glass Tile Company and terracotta contractor Atlantic Terra Cotta Company.^[52]: 40 The mosaics are in pink and black. The ceramic cartouche is also in pink and shows a three-faced figure. The three faces represent "Respice", "Adspice", and "Prospice", and are an emblem of the nearby City College.

In the past, 137th Street was sometimes used as aterminal station. There are switches north of the station that allow northbound trains to enter the underground137th Street Yard, then return to the other side of the station for the next trip south. The center express track that passes through the station is currently unused in revenue service.^[49]

Just south of the station, the tracks emerge onto theManhattan Valley Viaduct. The line is elevated at125th Street, and then underground once again at116th Street–Columbia University, allowing trains to maintain a relatively level grade while passing through highly uneven terrain.^[49]

Both platforms have same-levelfare control containing a bank ofturnstiles and staircases to the street. The northbound platform has two staircases on the east side of Broadway at 137th Street adjacent toMontefiore Square, which is frequently passed through byCity College of New York students leaving the station,^[54] and the southbound platform has a token booth and two staircases, one to each western corner of Broadway and 137th Street. There are no crossovers or crossunders to allow transfers between directions.^[55]

• Stookey, Lee (1994).Subway ceramics : a history and iconography of mosaic and bas relief signs and plaques in the New York City subway system. Brattleboro, Vt: L. Stookey.ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0.OCLC 31901471.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to137th Street – City College (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT West Side Line: 137th Street
• nycsubway.org –Fossils Artwork by Steve Wood (1988)
• Station Reporter –1 Train
• Forgotten NY –Original 28 – NYC's First 28 Subway Stations
• The Subway Nut –137th Street–City College PicturesArchived February 12, 2019, at theWayback Machine
• MTA's Arts For Transit –137th Street–City College (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
• 137th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• Future accessible New York City Subway stations
• IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
• Broadway (Manhattan)
• New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1904
• Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
• 1904 establishments in New York City

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