Construction The 36th Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line, the plan for which was initially adopted on June 1, 1905. The Rapid Transit Commission was succeeded on July 1, 1907, by the
New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), which approved the plan for the line in late 1907. The contract for the section of the line that included the 36th Street station, Route 11A4, which extended from 27th Street to 43rd Street, was awarded on May 22, 1908, to the E.E. Smith Construction Company for $2,769.913.97 (). The
New York City Board of Estimate approved the contract on October 29, 1909. Construction on the segment started on December 10, 1909, and was completed in October 1912. The station's opening was marked with a competition between two trains heading from
Chambers Street station in Manhattan to the Coney Island station, one heading via the
West End Line and the other via the Sea Beach Line; the latter got to Coney Island first.
Modifications and later changes 1910s to 1930s In 1915, the Sunset Park Civic Association petitioned for the construction of an entrance to the station from 33rd Street and Fourth Avenue. This request was turned down by the New York State Transit Commission. In 1929, the entrances to the station, along with those at Pacific Street and 59th Street, were relocated from the center median of Fourth Avenue to the sidewalks to accommodate the widening of the street. In December 1934, a request to construct an additional entrance to the station was brought before the Public Service Committee of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Bush Terminal.
1940s to 1990s The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940. In July 1959, the
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced that it would install
fluorescent lighting at the 36th Street station and five other stations along the Fourth Avenue Line for between $175,000 and $200,000. Bids on the project were to be advertised on August 7, 1959, and completed by fall 1960. In the 1960s, the
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) started a project to lengthen station platforms on its lines in Southern Brooklyn to to accommodate 10-car trains. On July 14, 1967, the NYCTA awarded a contract to conduct test borings at eleven stations on the Fourth Avenue Line, including 36th Street, to the W. M. Walsh Corporation for $6,585 () in preparation of the construction of platform extensions. The NYCTA issued an invitation for bids on the project to extend the platforms at stations along the Fourth Avenue Line between
Pacific Street and 36th Street, on March 28, 1969. Funding for the renovation projects came out of the NYCTA's 1969–1970 Capital Budget, costing $8,177,890 () in total. In June 1980, new telephones were installed on the platform at this station and nine others in Brooklyn, following a request by the
New York City Council for their installation in crime-prone subway stations. The MTA added funding for a renovation of the 36th Street station to its 1980–1984 capital plan in 1983. 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, including 36th Street. The station was overhauled from 1996 to 1997; as part of the renovation, the walls were re-tiled. It also included an art installation by Owen Smith called An Underground Movement: Designers, Builders, Riders. It features ceramic mosaics on mezzanine and stairway walls, and depicts the workers that have made the subway system possible.
2000s to present In May 2018,
New York City Transit Authority President
Andy Byford announced his subway and bus modernization plan, known as Fast Forward, which included making an additional 50 stations compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 during the 2020–2024
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Capital Program to allow most riders to have an accessible station every two or three stops. The draft 2020–2024 Capital Program released in September 2019 included 66 stations that would receive ADA improvements, including 36th Street. A contract for two elevators at the station was awarded in December 2023. A request for proposals was put out on May 18, 2023 for the contract for a project bundle to make 13 stations accessible, including 36th Street. The contract to add two elevators at the station was awarded in December 2023. The MTA announced in 2025 that a customer service center would open at the station. During the morning rush hour
on April 12, 2022, 62-year-old Frank James threw
smoke bombs and shot multiple people on a train entering the station; the attack injured 29 people. ==Station layout==