Grand Army Plaza   ​​
New York City Subway station ( rapid transit)
Wings for the IRT: The Irresistible Romance of Travel artwork on the mezzanine level of the station
Station statistics
Address	Plaza Street West, St. Johns Place, & Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11238
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Park Slope
Coordinates	40°40′29″N 73°58′14″W / 40.674584°N 73.970518°W / 40.674584; -73.970518
Division	A ( IRT) [1]
Line	IRT Eastern Parkway Line
Services	2  (all times) ​   3  (all except late nights) ​   4  (late nights, and limited rush hour service)
Transit	NYCT Bus: B41, B67, B69
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	October 10, 1920; 103 years ago (1920-10-10)
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Former/other names	Grand Army Plaza – Prospect Park
Traffic
2023	1,653,318 [2]  18.9%
Rank	198 out of 423 [2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Bergen Street 2  ​ 3  ​ 4  via 135th Street Local Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum 2  ​ 3  ​ 4  via Franklin Avenue–Medgar Evers College , and do not stop here
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Bergen Street to Eastern Parkway
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only

The Grand Army Plaza station is a local station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line of the New York City Subway. It is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, underneath Flatbush Avenue at its intersection with Plaza Street West and St. Johns Place, on the northwest side of Grand Army Plaza. It is served by the 2 train at all times, the 3 train at all times except late nights, and the 4 train during late nights.

History

Construction and opening

After the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s original line opened as far as Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the New York City government began planning new lines. As early as 1903, William Barclay Parsons, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission, had proposed constructing a four-track extension of the IRT line under Flatbush Avenue, running southeast from Atlantic Avenue to Grand Army Plaza. From there, two branches would have extended south to Flatbush and east to Brownsville. This plan did not progress for a decade due to various disputes over the original subway. ^[4]: 150 In 1913, New York City, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), and the IRT reached an agreement, known as the Dual Contracts, to drastically expand subway service across New York City. ^[5] As part of the Dual Contracts, two lines under Flatbush Avenue, one each operated by the BRT and IRT, were approved. ^{[6]: 203–219  [5]} The IRT was authorized to extend its four-track Brooklyn line under Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway, ^[5] while the BRT would construct a parallel two-track extension of the Brighton Line, ^[7]

Groundbreaking for the IRT extension took place on May 23, 1914. ^{[8] [9]} The Prospect Park Plaza station, at Grand Army Plaza was to be one of the stations on the IRT extension. ^[9] The Grand Army Plaza station was built as part of section 1A of the Eastern Parkway Line, stretching between the plaza and St. Mark's Avenue. The Cranford Company received a construction contract for this section in March 1914 after making a low bid of about $2.2 million. ^{[9] [10]} The project involved digging under Grand Army Plaza, near the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. ^[11]

Service on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line had been extended from Atlantic Avenue to Utica Avenue in August 1920, ^[12] but the Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza, and Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum stations were not ready to open with the rest of the line. ^{[13] [14]} The contractor responsible for completing the three stations had gone bankrupt in the middle of the project. ^[14] The stations opened on October 9, 1920. ^{[13] [15]} The BMT Brighton Line was already in use at the time but used trackage that is now part of the Franklin Avenue Shuttle; the opening of the subway line beneath Flatbush Avenue provided a more direct route to Downtown Brooklyn and, eventually, Manhattan. ^{[13] [15]}

Later years

The construction of the station and tunnels resulted in the removal of Frederic W. Darlington's 1897 Electric Fountain ^[16] from the center of Grand Army Plaza, which was dug up for the cut-and-cover construction and replaced with a grass oval. Construction began on a new fountain, known as the Bailey Fountain, in 1928, and it was completed in 1932. ^[17]

During the 1964–1965 fiscal year, the platforms at Grand Army Plaza, along with those at four other stations on the Eastern Parkway Line, were lengthened to 525 feet to accommodate a ten-car train of 51-foot IRT cars. ^{[18] [19]} The work was performed by the Arthur A. Johnson Corporation. ^[19] In April 1993, the New York State Legislature agreed to give the MTA $9.6 billion for capital improvements. Some of the funds would be used to renovate nearly one hundred New York City Subway stations, ^{[20] [21]} including Grand Army Plaza. ^[22] The renovation was completed in 1996. ^[23]

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Mezzanine	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent
Platform level	Northbound local	← toward Wakefield–241st Street ( Bergen Street) ← toward Harlem–148th Street (Bergen Street) ← toward Woodlawn late nights (Bergen Street)
	Island platform
	Southbound local	→ toward Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College ( Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum) → → ( late nights) toward New Lots Avenue (Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum) →
Express/Brighton Tracks	Northbound express	← do not stop here
	Brighton Line	← do not stop here
		→ do not stop here →
	Southbound express	→ do not stop here →

At platform level, Grand Army Plaza has a simple island platform layout with two tracks. ^[24] The 2 train stops here at all times, ^[25] while the 3 train stops here at all times except late nights. ^[26] The 4 train serves the station only during late nights. ^[27] The next station to the north is Bergen Street, while the next station to the south is Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum. ^[28]

Southbound (eastern Brooklyn-bound) trains use track E1 while northbound ( Manhattan-bound) trains use track E4. Underneath the platform are four tracks, the center two, A4 (north) and A3 (south) carrying the BMT Brighton Line with tracks E2 and E3 carrying southbound and northbound express IRT Eastern Parkway Line trains on either side of the Brighton Line tracks, respectively. ^{[29] [30]} These track designations are only displayed on small emergency placards on either end of the platform for use by train and emergency personnel; they are not used in everyday conversation.

The only mosaic in the Grand Army Plaza station is a small "P". ^[24] A permanent art installation in the station's entrances and mezzanine entitled Wings for the IRT: The Irresistible Romance of Travel was created in 1995 by Jane Greengold, who used the station regularly when she lived in Park Slope. The bronze and terra cotta pieces of art are modeled on the original Interborough Rapid Transit Company logo, and alludes to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in the plaza above with its Winged Victories. The MTA's Arts for Transit program held an opening ceremony for the artwork on June 19, 1997. ^{[31] [32]}

Exits

The station has four entrances and exits, all of which are staircases: ^[33]

• 2 on the northeast corner of Flatbush Avenue and Plaza Street East
• 1 on the southwest corner of Flatbush Avenue and Plaza Street West
• 1 on the southeast corner of Flatbush Avenue and Plaza Street West

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grand Army Plaza (IRT Eastern Parkway Line).

• www.nycsubway.org:
  • Brooklyn IRT: Grand Army Plaza
  • Brooklyn IRT: Map 2, Brooklyn IRT Dual Contracts (includes current and former track configurations, and provisions for future connections)
  • Wings for the IRT, The Irresistible [sic] Romance of Travel Artwork by Jane Greengold (1993)
• MTA's Arts For Transit — Grand Army Plaza (IRT Eastern Parkway Line)