168th Street station (BMT Jamaica Line)

168th Street was the terminal station on the demolished section of the BMT Jamaica Line. It was located between 165th and 168th Streets on Jamaica Avenue.

 168th Street
 
Former New York City Subway station
Former 168th Street Station building at Jamaica Avenue and 165th Street, seen in 2013.
Station statistics
AddressJamaica Avenue & 168th Street
Queens, NY 11433
BoroughQueens
LocaleJamaica
Coordinates40°42′20″N 73°47′40″W
DivisionB (BMT)
LineBMT Jamaica Line
ServicesNone (demolished)
Transit connectionsJamaica Surface Line
StructureElevated
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
Other information
OpenedJuly 3, 1918 (1918-07-03)[1][2][3]
ClosedSeptember 10, 1977 (1977-09-10)[4]
Former/other namesCliffside Avenue[1]
Grand Street[3]
Station succession
Next north(Terminus)
Next south160th Street (demolished)

History

Early years

168th Street was part of two Dual Contracts extensions of the BMT Broadway-Jamaica Line east of Cypress Hills and the "S-Curve" from Fulton Street to Jamaica Avenue.[1][5] It opened on July 3, 1918,[2][3][5] replacing 111th Street as the line's terminus.[1] 168th Street station also replaced the Canal Street Station along the Atlantic Avenue Rapid Transit line (today part of the LIRR Main Line), which closed nineteen years earlier, and supplanted the trolley service on Jamaica Avenue.[1][6]

Decline and closure

In 1937, the Queens Boulevard Line of the city-owned Independent Subway System was extended to a new terminal at 169th Street and Hillside Avenue, four blocks away. The opening of the IND terminal drew passengers away from the BMT lines.[7]

Many groups had called for the removal of the extension in the Jamaica Business district since shortly after it opened, and by the 1960s the city planned to close the station and significant portions of the line in Jamaica.[8] Many merchants credited the line with causing blight and hurting business in the neighborhood.[5][9]

The line was also torn down in preparation for the completion of the Archer Avenue Subway one block south, which would serve the Jamaica Line and a spur of the IND Queens Boulevard Line, and due to political pressure in the area.[10][8] Construction of that line began in 1972.[8] 168th Street closed at midnight on September 10, 1977, and the elevated structure from 168th Street to Sutphin Boulevard was torn down by 1979. The line was truncated to Queens Boulevard, with the Q49 bus replacing the demolished portion of the line until December 11, 1988.[4][5][10]

Current status

In spite of the support of local business owners for the demolition of the line, stores continued to suffer and several establishments closed due to the absence of the El. This included the large Macy's location in the 165th Street Pedestrian Mall near the bus terminal.[10][8]

Unlike the 160th Street and Sutphin Boulevard stations, which were completely demolished in 1979,[10] 168th Street's former control tower, known as the "Station and Trainmen's Building",[11] still remains standing on the southeast corner of 165th Street and Jamaica Avenue. It sits inactive atop a block of storefronts. The exit stairways for the station were purchased by a private citizen to be used on their estate in Nissequogue on the Long Island Sound.[12]

The Archer Avenue Line was completed in 1988, nearly ten years after the closure of the station,[13] but it does not extend east to 168th Street.[14] The closest subway stations to this former station are Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, which is nine blocks west and one block south,[14] as well as the existing 169th Street station which is four blocks to the north on Hillside Avenue.[15]

Station layout

This elevated station had two tracks and one island platform. It was constructed with a diamond crossover switch west of the station, and a large signal and switch tower built to the south side of the elevated structure at 165th Street.[5] The entrance to the station at this location was built into an alcove of the signal building, which contained storefronts at ground level.[16] Past the crossover, the line expanded to three tracks, with the middle track ending at 160th Street. While reports say the station had a concrete platform,[5] photographs show a wooden platform.[17] It served trains from the BMT Jamaica-Nassau Street Line to Manhattan (the predecessors to today's J and Z trains) and from the BMT Lexington Avenue Line.[2][9] The station also connected to the nearby 165th Street Bus Terminal (opened in 1936) at 89th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard via an exit on 165th Street.[10][18]

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References
  1. "New Subway Line: Affords a Five-Cent Fare Between Manhattan and Jamaica, L.I." (PDF). The New York Times. July 7, 1918. p. 30.
  3. "Open "L" Extension to Jamaica Today". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 2, 1918. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  4. The New York Transit Authority in the 1970s, nycsubway.org
  5. Dembart, Lee (September 9, 1977). "A Sentimental Journey on the BMT..." (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  6. "Rapid Transit Extension: Frequent Trains and Low Fares All the Way to Rockaway Junction". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 24, 1890. p. 1. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  7. "New Lines Shift City Travel". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 8, 1937. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  8. Herman, Robin (July 4, 1979). "For Jamaica, Redevelopment Is a Promise Unfulfilled; Projects Are Thwarted". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  9. Fowler, Glenn (July 27, 1975). "Proposal to End Jamaica Ave. El at Queens Blvd. Is Opposed" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  10. Breslin, Rosemary (May 22, 1983). "After A Long Slide, Hope For Jamaica". The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  11. "Business Property to Let". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 3, 1930. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  12. "Topics; In Transit Tendentious Traveler Stylish Stairs Clamped Cars". The New York Times. July 23, 1978. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  13. Johnson, Kirk (December 9, 1988). "Big Changes For Subways Are to Begin". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  14. "Queens Merchants Win More Bus Service". The New York Times. March 17, 1989. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  15. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Jamaica" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  16. New York City Transit Authority (October 7, 1957). "Image Showing BMT Jamaica Elevated Entrance at Jamaica Avenue and 165th Street: Jamaica Line (BMT)". New York Transit Museum. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  17. New York City Board of Transportation (February 28, 1944). "168th Street Station on the BMT Nassau Street /Jamaica Line. Showing the platform with stationed train and passengers". New York Transit Museum. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  18. "Stores Now Leasing! In the New Long Island Bus Terminal at 165th Street, Jamaica". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 16, 1936. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
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