Willis Avenue (IRT elevated station)

Willis Avenue
Former New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Borough The Bronx
Locale Mott Haven
Coordinates 40°48.32′0″N 73°55.57′0″W / 40.80533°N 73.92617°W / 40.80533; -73.92617Coordinates: 40°48.32′0″N 73°55.57′0″W / 40.80533°N 73.92617°W / 40.80533; -73.92617
Line IRT Willis Avenue Spur
Services None
Transit connections Harlem River (NHRR-NYW&B station)
Structure Elevated
Platforms 2 side platforms, 1 island platform
Tracks 4[1]
Other information
Opened November 25, 1886 (November 25, 1886)[2]
Closed April 14, 1924 (April 14, 1924)
Station succession
Next north (Terminus)
Next south 129th Street

Willis Avenue was an elevated rapid transit station of the Willis Avenue Spur that branched off of the IRT Third Avenue Line. It opened in 1886 and closed in 1924.

History

Willis Avenue station was opened on November 25, 1886 by the Suburban Rapid Transit Company as a connecting spur to the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad's Harlem River Terminal Station. The HR&PC was chartered 20 years earlier and operated trains owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The station was located next to the 133rd Street Yard, and served both the Second and Third Avenue line trains. The spur ran from the 129th Street Station in Manhattan across the Harlem River Bridge, thereby creating two separate transportation hubs on both sides of the Harlem River. By 1912, the station would also begin to serve the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, an interurban line serving the Bronx and Southern Westchester County. Despite the name the railroad never actually reached Boston. For the next decade the station became a vital link not only for rapid transit commuters, but interurban, commuter rail, and intercity rail passengers.

The station was closed for IRT service on April 14, 1924, when a connecting pedestrian bridge was opened between the nearby Third Avenue El station at 133rd Street,[3] although the Third Avenue Line continued to cross the Harlem River until 1955. The HR&PC was officially merged with the New Haven Railroad on January 1, 1927. Harlem River Station continued to serve the New Haven Railroad and New York, Westchester and Boston Railway until 1930 when the NYNH&H left, and was closed completely on December 31, 1937[4] when the NYW&B fell into bankruptcy.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Manhattan and Bronx Elevated Railroads; 1920 System Track Map (NYCSubway.org)
  2. ↑ Fischler, Stan (1997). The Subway: A Trip Through Time on New York's Rapid Transit. Flushing, NY: H&M Productions. pp. 245–249. ISBN 1-882608-19-4.
  3. ↑ "Westchester Road to Open New Harlem River Station" (PDF). New York Telegram and Evening Mail. Fultonhistory.com. April 7, 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Harlem River NYW&B Station (New York, Westchester, and Boston Railway Website)
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