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Station Timeline

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Transit July 2026

Ninety-Four Years at the Subway's Crossroads

West 4th Street–Washington Square opened in 1932 with an entire lower level built for a line that would not exist for another eight years. This timeline traces the station from that bet on the future through 27 years without express tracks, a failed first generation of elevators, and the renewal completed in May 2026.

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West 4th Street's eight-track design opened in 1932 and did not run as drawn until 1967

Ninety-four years at W 4 St–Washington Square: two bursts of building, four quiet decades of wear, then a two-year renewal.

Building the crossroads1932–1940
1932 Sept 10
The upper level opens with the city-built IND Eighth Avenue Line
Four island platforms and eight tracks on two levels, with the entire lower level built for a line that existed only on paper.
IND planners added "West" to avoid confusion with South 4th Street, a planned Brooklyn hub that was never built. The station is named for a ghost.
NYU asked for purple tiles and was refused: tile color was a wayfinding system, not decoration, changing at each express station up the line.
1936 Jan 1
E trains borrow the empty lower level
The waiting shell carries its first trains four years before its own line opens.
New here:E
1940 Dec 15
The Sixth Avenue Line arrives, eight years after its platforms
West 4th becomes the only station where the IND's two Manhattan trunk lines meet. It still is.
Two decades pass with no express tracks
Completing the design1961–1967
1961 Apr 19
Ground breaks on the missing express tracks
A $22M project threads two new tracks beneath the existing locals and around the PATH tubes.
1967 Nov 26
B and D expresses finally run
After 27 local-only years, the station's full eight-track design is used as drawn.
Decades of wear1970–2010
1970
Escalators finally connect the two levels
Two up-only escalators arrive, five years after the Manhattan Borough President first requested them.
1978–1990
The JFK Express stops at the lower level
A premium-fare train links the station directly to the airport for twelve years.
New here:JFK
2004 July
The station joins the National Register of Historic Places
Recognized as a signature work of the IND, the subway system New York City built itself.
2005 April
Three new elevators make the station accessible, then fail almost immediately
Out of service a cumulative nine months in year one; one stays closed 134 straight days.
2010
The M joins and completes today's roster
Service changes route the M through the Chrystie Street Connection to Sixth Avenue.
The full roster:ACEBDFM
15 years pass
Renewal2025–2026
2025 Jul 31
Six new escalators enter service
A design-build replacement, with new LED lighting throughout the station.
2026 May 13
The last of three replacement elevators opens, three weeks early
Two platform elevators and a glass-canopied street elevator complete the station's second generation of accessibility hardware.
Source: New York Times archives (1932–2008), MTA contractor announcements, National Archives Note: the overview strip above is drawn to scale across 1932–2026.

Sources: Opening dates and service history from contemporaneous New York Times coverage (Sept 10, 1932; Aug 22, 1932; Dec 16, 1940; Apr 19, 1961) as compiled in the station's Wikipedia article. Name origin from the New York Times "F.Y.I." column (Sept 14, 2008); tile-color anecdote from Arthur Warner, "The City's New Underground Province," New York Times, Nov 22, 1931. Elevator failure figures from the New York Times ("$1 Billion Later, New York's Subway Elevators Still Fail," May 19, 2008) and WNYC (Oct 28, 2005). National Register listing from the National Archives (registration documentation, July 2004). 2025–2026 escalator and elevator completions from MTA contractor announcements (Forte Construction, J-Track/Entuitive).

Note on artwork: The "Greenwich Village Murals" mosaics often associated with this station are at Christopher Street–Stonewall on the 1 train, not West 4th Street.