Grant Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line)

History

Grant Avenue was built as part of the extension of the IND Fulton Street Line east of Broadway–East New York. Funding for the station was allocated in the New York City Board of Transportation's 1939 Capital Budget, projected to be completed by 1942. In October 1940, construction began on the portion of the extension along Pitkin Avenue between Crystal Street and Grant Avenue. This included a station at Euclid Avenue and the Pitkin Yard, but did not include a station at Grant Avenue. By this time, the board acquired private property on the east side of Grant Avenue for subway construction. By 1941, the intersection of Pitkin and Grant Avenues was excavated for subway construction. The opening of the East New York station, and completion of all stations east to Euclid Avenue that were then-under construction, however, was halted in 1942 due to supply shortages from World War II.

The extension of the line to Euclid Avenue opened in November 1948. As part of the extension, the Fulton Line tunnel under Pitkin Avenue was built up to Eldert Lane just past Grant Avenue to facilitate a future subway extension via Pitkin Avenue, while additional trackways were installed in the tunnel just east of Euclid Avenue for a potential connection to the nearby BMT Fulton Street Elevated along Liberty Avenue. The yet-to-be-built Grant Avenue station was also displayed on the signal board in the Euclid Avenue station. In 1949, the Board of Transportation approved a plan to extend the IND Fulton Line along the eastern Fulton El to Lefferts Boulevard. Under the original plans, the Grant Avenue station of the BMT elevated would have been preserved as the first station east of the link. In 1950, the New York City Planning Commission approved funding for an extension of the Fulton Line east from Euclid Avenue to Grant Avenue. In late 1952, the Board of Transportation began construction on a connection between the IND and both the Fulton El and the Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which included a new underground Grant Avenue station. The station opened on April 29, 1956, along with the connection to the Fulton El east to Lefferts Boulevard. One month later, the station facilitated an extension of the line to the Rockaways. The station also replaced the former Grant Avenue station on the Fulton El, which was closed and demolished.

Station layout

This station has two tracks and one island platform. The column and wall tiles are textured Nile Green, with "GRANT" in dark green letters going down vertically on columns and horizontally along the wall underneath the tile band; the tile band is set in a soldier course of dark Bottle Green bordered by the same Nile Green as the rest of the wall, albeit minus the textured surface. Unlike older stations, this station featured fluorescent lighting instead of then-standard incandescent lights when it opened.

Railroad south (geographically east) of the station, the line gains a center track from Pitkin Yard, leaves the subway tunnel and ramps up to the elevated tracks along Liberty Avenue. At the tunnel portal, another track from Pitkin Yard merges with the southbound local track. The line continues as three tracks, towards 80th Street station on Liberty Avenue. The two yard tracks are located under the station.

Exit

The station's only entrance is a 1950s-style brick station-house at street level, located at the northwest corner of Pitkin and Grant Avenues.