First subway Construction and opening Planning for a
subway line in New York City dates to 1864. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by
William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by
John B. McDonald and funded by
August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. Contract 2, which gave the IRT a 35-year lease, was executed between the commission and the Rapid Transit Construction Company on September 11, 1902. Construction began at
State Street in Manhattan on November 8, 1902. By the beginning of January 1905, the station was nearly complete, but heavy snow delayed the installation of the entrances. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line station opened on January 16, 1905, as part of a one-stop southward extension from
Brooklyn Bridge, the previous southernmost express station on the original IRT line. Only the northbound platform (on the eastern side of the station) was in use initially. The station was to serve express trains, and thus the platforms were designed to accommodate eight cars. The Rapid Transit Commission had not approved the station's opening; in considering whether to permit the station's operation, the commission found that advertising agents Ward & Gow had installed
slot machines in the Fulton Street station just before it opened. The commission ordered the machines' removal on January 19, saying that the machines violated a ban on advertising in subway stations. The southbound platform opened on June 12, 1905, when the subway was extended one stop south to
Wall Street. The station's completion resulted in increased real-estate values in the area. The slot machines were reinstalled in May 1906, following a legal dispute over whether the slot machines should be allowed.
Early modifications To address overcrowding, in 1909, the
New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. The northbound platform at the Fulton Street station was extended to the south, while the southbound platform was extended to the south. The northbound platform extension required underpinning adjacent buildings, while the southbound platform extension was largely in the basements of adjacent properties and involved extensive reconstruction of these buildings. Staircases from the southbound platform to
195 Broadway, at the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey Street, opened in 1916.
Dual Contracts expansion After the original IRT opened, the city began planning new lines. In April 1912, the
New York Public Service Commission gave the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) the right to operate the proposed
Clark Street Tunnel under the
East River, between Old Slip in Lower Manhattan and Clark Street in
Downtown Brooklyn. The next month, the Old Slip–Clark Street route was assigned to the IRT instead; the plans called for a station at Fulton Street. The BRT was allowed to extend its
Centre Street Line south to a new
Montague Street Tunnel. Both this extension and the IRT's Clark Street Tunnel were to have stations at Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. These routes were finalized in the
Dual Contracts between the
government of New York City, the BRT, and the IRT, which were signed in 1913.
Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line As part of the Dual Contracts, the New York City Public Service Commission planned to split the original IRT system into three segments: two north–south lines, carrying through trains over the
Lexington Avenue and
Broadway–Seventh Avenue Lines, and an east–west
shuttle under 42nd Street. This would form a roughly H-shaped system. South of the
Chambers Street station, the line was to split into two branches, one of which would travel under
Park Place and
William Street to the Clark Street Tunnel in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn branch was to have a station at William and Fulton Streets. Before the Dual Contracts were signed, many business owners on William Street had opposed the construction of a subway line there, claiming that the subway's construction could damage buildings because the street was only wide. The
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, approved the William Street subway in February 1913. The William Street subway was to be a two-track line; the Public Service Commission originally planned to place one track above the other but, by July 1914, had decided to build both tracks on one level. The tunnel was to measure wide, except the stations on Fulton Street and
Wall Street, which were to measure wide. Smith, Hauser, & McIsaac submitted a low bid of $2.254 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Another dispute arose over the locations of subway entrances. The Fulton Street station was supposed to have entrances along the sidewalk on William Street, but local business and civic groups argued that the subway entrances, despite being only wide, would occupy much of the sidewalk. By March 1916, two business owners on the street had agreed to add subway entrances in their buildings to the Fulton Street station. Prior to the start of construction, the city government agreed to pay for any damage caused by the project. The contractors underpinned every building along the tunnel because most of the buildings had shallow foundations that extended only to a shallow layer of
quicksand, rather than to the
bedrock below. The line was nearly completed by late 1917, but the signals and station finishes were incomplete due to
World War I–related material shortages. The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's Fulton Street station opened on July 1, 1918, and was initially served by a shuttle between
Chambers Street and
Wall Street on the line's Brooklyn branch. On August 1, 1918, the new "H" system was implemented, joining the two halves of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and sending all West Side trains south from Times Square; through trains on the Brooklyn branch began operating to Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. The Lexington Avenue Line also opened north of
Grand Central–42nd Street, and all services at the original station on Broadway were sent through that line.
Nassau Street Line Also as part of the Dual Contracts, the BRT (after 1923, the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT) was assigned to construct and operate the Nassau Street Line. Most of the BMT's Dual Contracts lines were completed by 1924, except for the Nassau Street Line. At the time, the BMT was planning to construct two stations on the Nassau Street Line, including one at Fulton Street, where the BMT planned to place the northbound platform above the southbound platform due to the street's narrowness. However, mayor
John Hylan refused to act during his final two years in office. Meanwhile, the BMT claimed that the city's failure to complete the line was overburdening other BMT lines. By January 1925, the BMT was asking its passengers to pressure Hylan into approving the remainder of the Nassau Street Line. Work did not commence until after
James Walker succeeded Hylan as mayor at the end of 1925. after the BMT sued the city for $30 million (equivalent to $ million in ). At the time, the city wanted to take over the BMT's lines but could not do so until all Dual Contracts lines were completed. but it rejected every bid the next month because of concerns over the lowest bidder's ability to complete the work. That September, contractors again submitted bids to the BOT; some bidders offered to build the entire line, while others only offered to construct the segments of the line to the north or south of
Liberty Street. The
New York City Board of Estimate approved the contracts in January 1928, allowing the builders to construct the line using the
cut-and-cover method, despite merchants' requests that the line be constructed using tunneling shields. When the construction contracts were awarded, work had been projected to be completed in 39 months. The project was 80 percent complete by April 1930, and Charles Meads & Co. was awarded a $252,000 contract to install the Fulton Street station's finishes the next month. Later that year, a federal judge ruled that the city government did not have to pay the BMT $30 million in damages for failing to construct the Nassau Street Line. The total construction cost was $10.072 million (equivalent to $ million in ) for of new tunnels, or , which was three times the normal cost of construction at the time. The loop ran from the line's previous terminus at
Chambers Street, running through the Fulton Street and
Broad Street stations before merging with the
Montague Street Tunnel to Brooklyn. The completion of the line relieved congestion on several BMT lines to southern Brooklyn, which previously had to operate to
Midtown Manhattan using the
Broadway Line. The BMT's Fulton Street station was originally served by trains from the
Jamaica Line and the
Culver Line.
IND expansion Mayor Hylan's original plans for the
Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over of new lines and taking over nearly of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and BMT. On December 9, 1924, the BOT gave preliminary approval for the construction of the
IND Eighth Avenue Line. This line consisted of a corridor connecting
Inwood, Manhattan, to
Downtown Brooklyn, running largely under
Eighth Avenue but also paralleling
Greenwich Avenue and
Sixth Avenue in Lower Manhattan. The BOT announced a list of stations on the new line in February 1928, with a station under Fulton Street at Broadway in Manhattan. Work on the line had commenced in 1925, and the main section of the Eighth Avenue Line, from
Chambers Street north to
207th Street, was opened to the public on September 10, 1932. The Broadway/Nassau Street station was part of a three-stop extension of the IND Eighth Avenue Line from Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan to
Jay Street–Borough Hall in
Downtown Brooklyn. The two-track extension was to connect the quadruple-tracked main portion of the Eighth Avenue Line with the proposed
Culver and
Fulton Street lines in Brooklyn. and construction of the extension began in June 1928. The IND's Brooklyn extension was 82 percent completed by December 1930. Although most work on the line had been finished by December 1932, city controller
Charles W. Berry then requested $1.57 million for the line's completion (equivalent to $ million in ). The
Cranberry Street Tunnel, extending the express tracks east under Fulton Street to Jay Street, was opened for the morning rush hour on February 1, 1933, with a stop at Broadway/Nassau Street. The Broadway/Nassau station was initially served by express trains during the daytime on weekdays and Saturdays; local trains only served the station when express trains were not operating. It had ten entrances from the street, as well as direct connections to the IRT and BMT stations at Fulton Street. The opening of the Broadway/Nassau station eliminated an "outstanding drawback" to
Upper Manhattan residents' usage of the Eighth Avenue Line, as the IND previously did not have a direct connection to Manhattan's Financial District. and the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. Transfer passageways between the four stations were placed inside
fare control on July 1, 1948. The rearrangement of turnstiles allowed free transfers in the existing passageways between the Eighth Avenue, Nassau Street, and Broadway–Seventh Avenue platforms. Passengers transferring to and from the Lexington Avenue Line had to receive a paper transfer. On August 25, 1950, the railings of the Lexington Avenue and Eighth Avenue Line stations were rearranged to allow direct transfers, and the paper transfers were discontinued. The
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), the BOT's successor, announced plans in 1956 to add fluorescent lights to the Fulton Street station. The NYCTA also asked the city government in 1958 to provide $66,700 for a
moving walkway connecting the IND and IRT platforms at Fulton Street. The moving walkway, measuring long, would have been the first in the New York City Subway system. The NYCTA publicly announced plans for the moving walkway in August 1960; the agency's chairman Charles L. Patterson claimed that the moving walkway would ease congestion in the passageways between each platforms. Work on the platform extension at Fulton Street began in April 1960 and was still underway two years later. The platform-lengthening project was substantially completed by November 1965. During the 1964–1965 fiscal year, the platforms at Fulton Street on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, along with those at four other stations on the line, were lengthened to to accommodate a ten-car train of 51-foot IRT cars.
1970s to 1990s A passageway from the Lexington Avenue Line station to the
World Trade Center was completed in 1977. Late the next year, the MTA announced that it would modernize the Broadway–Nassau/Fulton Street station. The improvements included new finishes on the walls and floors; acoustical, signage, and lighting improvements; replacement of old mechanical equipment; and new handrails. In 1979, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the space within the boundaries of the original IRT Lexington Avenue Line station, excluding expansions made after 1904, as a city landmark. By that time, the Lexington Avenue Line station was one of the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. The
Urban Mass Transportation Administration gave a $66 million grant to the New York City Transit Authority. Part of the grant was to be used for the renovation of several subway stations, including Fulton Street's IRT platforms, in 1982. The MTA attempted to replicate the original design of the Lexington Avenue Line platforms, even obtaining marble
wainscoting from a Georgia quarry. The renovation, designed by
Lee Harris Pomeroy, was finished in 1987. During the early 1990s, the MTA removed some advertisements from the Lexington Avenue Line platforms to reduce what an MTA spokesman described as "the perception of chaos". The MTA also removed three of the station's high entry-exit turnstiles to increase passenger flow. The
New York State Legislature agreed to give the MTA $9.6 billion for capital improvements in April 1993. Some of the funds would be used to renovate nearly one hundred New York City Subway stations, including the BMT platforms at Fulton Street and the IND platform at Broadway–Nassau Street. In 1994, amid a funding shortfall, the administration of mayor
Rudy Giuliani proposed delaying the IND station's renovation. That October, the MTA announced it had indefinitely postponed plans for renovating the IND's Broadway–Nassau Street station. Ultimately, the BMT and IND platforms were both renovated during the 1990s. In late 1996, as part of a pilot program to reduce overcrowding, the MTA placed orange decals on the Lexington Avenue Line platforms with the words "Step Aside" and employed platform attendants during rush hours. Additionally, to reduce
dwell times, the MTA started enforcing a policy that required conductors to close their doors after 45 seconds. This trial was shortly expanded to other stations. These policies reduced dwell times by about six seconds per train, allowing the MTA to operate an extra train during rush hours.
21st-century renovation Fulton Center plans and IRT renovation After several pieces of transit infrastructure in Lower Manhattan were destroyed or severely damaged during the
September 11, 2001, attacks, officials proposed a $7 billion redesign of transit in the neighborhood. Plans for a massive transit hub in Lower Manhattan, which was to incorporate the Fulton Street station, were first announced in January 2002. At the time, a
Straphangers Campaign survey had ranked the station as one of the worst in the system; the complex was extremely hard to navigate because its four stations were built by different companies at different times. By April 2003, the MTA had released preliminary plans for a $750 million transit hub at Fulton Street, connecting six subway stations and constructing a new head house and the
Dey Street Passageway. That December, the
Federal Transit Administration allocated $750 million to the Fulton Street Transit Center (later the
Fulton Center). The project was to include a domed station building at Fulton Street and Broadway. The transit center was to be financed using money from the
September 11 recovery fund. By May 2006, the budget for Fulton Center had grown, and the project had been delayed. Further delays and costs were incurred in February 2007. The MTA downsized the original plans for the transit center due to cost overruns, and the agency partially funded the project using
2009 federal stimulus money. Despite delays with the Fulton Center project, the MTA began renovating the IRT platforms. The rehabilitation of the Seventh Avenue Line platform started in 2005 and was completed by November 2006. The Lexington Avenue Line station at the western end of the complex began refurbishment in 2008. Historical features, such as the tiling, were preserved. By then, a reporter for
The New York Times wrote that the station's ramps, passageways, and stairs were so confusing that "The Fulton Street subway station might be a good spot for
M. C. Escher to set up an easel, if the surrealist artist were still alive and sketching." This intricate system of ramps was replaced by two new mezzanines. Work on the IND mezzanine commenced in January 2010; the reconstruction of the transfer mezzanine over the Fulton Street IND platform resulted in traffic flow changes. The Eighth Avenue Line station adopted the "Fulton Street" name in December 2010 to become unified with the other platforms in the station complex. The eastern mezzanine and parts of the western mezzanine had opened by 2011, and the western mezzanine was completed by 2012. New entrances were also opened as part of the project. The Fulton Building, at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fulton Street, was also built as part of the project; work on that building lasted for another two years. The Fulton Center project was completed with the opening of the Fulton Building in November 2014, and the entire complex was made ADA-accessible. In 2024, following several violent incidents in the subway system, the city government installed scanners in the Fulton Street station as part of a pilot program to detect weapons. ==Station layout==