First subway 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, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission. It called for a subway line from
New York City Hall in
lower Manhattan to the
Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into
the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. During the line's construction, the contractors installed a temporary compressed-air plant in Union Square, prompting a lawsuit from the operator of a nearby hotel. The
New York Court of Appeals ruled in 1902 that the contractors had to disassemble the compressed-air plant and to stop storing materials in Union Square Park. By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but the
IRT Powerhouse and the system's
electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening. The 14th Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from
City Hall to
145th Street on the
Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. With the northward relocation of the city's theater district, Union Square became a major wholesaling district with several loft buildings, as well as numerous office buildings. Express trains to 145th Street were later eliminated, and West Farms express trains and rush-hour Broadway express trains operated through to Brooklyn. As part of an experiment to improve the subway line's ventilation, the Rapid Transit Commission installed large fans at the 14th Street station in July 1905. 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. At the 14th Street station, the northbound island platform was extended north and south, while the southbound island platform was extended north, necessitating the replacement of some structural steel north of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street. Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910. In 1918, the Lexington Avenue Line opened north of
Grand Central–42nd Street, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. All trains at the 14th Street–Union Square station were sent via the Lexington Avenue Line.
Dual Contracts After the original IRT opened, the city began planning new lines. The
New York Public Service Commission adopted plans for what was known as the Broadway–Lexington Avenue route (later the
Broadway Line) on December 31, 1907.) in the
Dual Contracts, adopted on March 4, 1913. The Dual Contracts also entailed a subway route under 14th Street, to run to
Canarsie in Brooklyn; this became the BMT's
Canarsie Line.
Broadway Line In May 1913, the Public Service Commission began receiving bids for Section 4 of the Broadway Line, between
Houston Street and Union Square. This was the first construction contract to be placed for bidding after the Dual Contracts had been signed. The next month, the Dock Contractor Company submitted a low bid of $2.578 million. This section was to include a station at Union Square between 14th and 16th Streets. The Public Service Commission approved Dock Contractor's bid despite these objections, and the contract was awarded later that month. The section between 16th and 26th Streets was awarded to the E. E. Smith Construction Company in September 1913 From the outset, the 14th Street–Union Square station was intended as an express station on the Broadway Line. To save money, the station was built using an
open cut method. A strip of land, running diagonally through Union Square Park, was closed and excavated. By late 1913, large portions of Union Square Park had been demolished for the construction of the Broadway Line's Union Square station. New York City's parks commissioner promised members of the public that the park would be remodeled after the station was finished. and workers began restoring the section of Union Square Park above the 14th Street station. The same month, the Public Service Commission began accepting bids for the installation of finishes at seven stations on the Broadway Line from
Rector Street to 14th Street. The section of the line north of 14th Street, by contrast, was still incomplete. Although it was technically possible for the BRT to terminate trains at Union Square, the line would not be profitable until it was extended at least to
34th Street. Within three months of the Broadway Line station's opening, the 14th Street–Union Square station recorded more daily passengers than either the
Grand Central–42nd Street station or the
Brooklyn Bridge–Chambers Street station, leading ''
Women's Wear'' to describe the Union Square complex as "probably the world's greatest underground traffic point". On January 5, 1918, the Broadway Line was extended north to
Times Square–42nd Street and south to
Rector Street, and express service started on the line. For about three weeks, a shuttle service ran between Union Square and Times Square. Local trains from Brooklyn began running through to Times Square on January 27. While local trains terminated at the Times Square station, express trains from Brooklyn continued to terminate at Union Square until a northward extension to
57th Street opened in July 1919, allowing express trains to operate to Times Square. To aid navigation, in 1920, the BRT installed illuminated signs on the southbound platforms of Union Square and two other Broadway Line stations.
Canarsie Line At Union Square, the BRT's Canarsie Line was to pass under both the Broadway and Lexington Avenue lines.
Booth and Flinn was awarded the first contract for the line, namely a tunnel under the
East River, in January 1916. At the time, the Public Service Commission was completing plans for the rest of the line; the commission began accepting bids for two parts of the line within Manhattan, sections 1 and 2. in April 1916. The next month, Booth and Flinn won the contract for section 1, which was to cost $2.528 million (equivalent to $ million in ). By early 1919, the section of the line under 14th Street was about 20 percent completed. In 1922, the Charles H. Brown & Son Corporation was contracted to build out the Canarsie Line's stations in Manhattan, including the Union Square station. Track-laying in the tunnels between Sixth and
Montrose Avenues started in the last week of October 1922. A passageway between the Broadway and Canarsie Line stations at Union Square was completed in late 1923. The Canarsie Line station at Union Square opened on June 30, 1924, as the second-westernmost stop on the 14th Street–Eastern Line, which ran from
Sixth Avenue under the
East River and through
Williamsburg to Montrose and Bushwick Avenues. Service was extended east to Canarsie on July 14, 1928, stopping at Union Square. The extension of service to Canarsie and Sixth Avenue reduced overcrowding at the
Canal Street station in Lower Manhattan.
1920s and 1930s modifications In 1922, the Rapid Transit Commission awarded a contract to the Wagner Engineering Company for the installation of navigational signs at the Union Square station and several other major subway stations. The IRT platforms received blue-and-white signs, while the BMT platforms received red-white-and-green navigational signs. The Broadway Line station's platforms originally could only fit six cars. In 1926, the
New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) received bids for the lengthening of platforms at nine stations on the Broadway Line, including the 14th Street station, to accommodate eight-car trains. Edwards & Flood submitted a low bid of $101,750 for the project. The platform-lengthening project was completed in 1927, bringing the length of the Broadway Line platforms to . In May 1928, the
New York City Board of Estimate awarded a $607,223 contract to improve transfers between the Canarsie and Broadway lines at Union Square, which was expected to help relieve crowding at Canal Street. The low bidder was the Hart & Early Co. Work on the transfer between the Broadway and Canarsie lines began that August. The project involved constructing a mezzanine Existing statues in the park were relocated as part of improvements to the park. At the time, the Union Square station was one of the city's busiest, with 52 million annual passengers. The renovation was nearly completed by mid-1931.
Later years 1940s to 1970s The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940, and the IRT's operations on June 12. In September 1945, the
New York City Club presented a proposal for improving service on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line. The 14th Street–Union Square station on the IRT line would have been relocated about northward, requiring the closure of the 18th Street station. Since the plan entailed having local trains terminate at 14th Street instead of at City Hall, the local platforms would be rebuilt at a lower level, with a crossover next to the station. In addition, all local trains would be lengthened from six to ten cars. This plan was not implemented. The transfer between the IRT and BMT platforms was placed inside
fare control on July 1, 1948. As part of a pilot program, the BOT installed three-dimensional advertisements at the Union Square station in late 1948. The BOT studied the feasibility of building an underpass from the station to the eastern side of Union Square East at 15th Street in January 1949, and
Loft Inc. opened a candy store in the BMT mezzanine that April. During 1956, the
Central Savings Bank and
Union Square Savings Bank both opened branches on the Union Square station's mezzanine. The
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) lengthened both of the Lexington Avenue Line platforms by as part of a $1.3 million project that was completed at the beginning of 1958. After the extensions were completed, the NYCTA began requiring that, during PM rush hours, alighting Lexington Avenue Line riders use only one of the staircases on the northbound platform to reduce congestion. In the 1960s, the NYCTA started a project to lengthen station platforms on the Broadway Line to to accommodate 10-car trains. As part of the project, the Broadway Line platforms at Union Square were extended to the north. Additionally, the NYCTA installed a closed-circuit television system on the Lexington Avenue Line platforms in 1965 as part of a pilot program to deter crime there. Efforts were made to renovate the Union Square station during the late 1970s as part of an effort to redevelop the area around Union Square. During this time, $1.2 million was raised for a renovation of the Union Square station. This included $120,000 raised by the 14th Street–Union Square Area Project and the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), as well as $900,000 from the federal government. The renovation, which was limited to the complex's mezzanine level, coincided with the original IRT line's 75th anniversary. Local civic groups, the MTA, and the
New York City Transit Authority began soliciting bids for the station's renovation in December 1978. The project included relocating turnstiles away from hallways, closing or straightening some passageways, removing most concession stands, and relocating a district headquarters for the
New York City Transit Police to the station. The renovation, which had been completed by 1980,
1980s and early 1990s The MTA evicted 25 businesses, who occupied a combined , from the station's mezzanine in 1981 to free up space. That year, the MTA listed the Union Square station on the Lexington Avenue Line among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. The MTA provided funding for a further renovation of the Union Square station in its 1985–1989 capital plan. By 1982, the entrances in the southern portion of Union Square were to be renovated as part of a refurbishment of Union Square Park. The entrances had been renovated by 1985. The MTA also renovated of storefronts at the station in 1984. Seven storefronts received glass enclosures. During the mid-1980s, the
New York City Department of City Planning prepared
zoning guidelines for the Union Square area, which would allow a greater maximum floor area ratio in exchange for subway improvements.
William Zeckendorf, who was developing the adjacent
Zeckendorf Towers, agreed in 1984 to build and maintain subway entrances within Zeckendorf Towers as "a public benefit", in exchange for being allowed to increase the towers' floor area by 20 percent. This was because of
zoning rules that required many developers in
Lower Manhattan,
Midtown Manhattan, and
Downtown Brooklyn to relocate and maintain subway entrances that were formerly on the street. In exchange for adding and maintaining an entrance with escalators and elevators at the building's base, Zeckendorf was allowed to add to his building. but was approved by the
New York City Board of Estimate in early 1985. As part of the construction of Zeckendorf Towers the 14th Street–Union Square station was partially renovated in the late 1980s. On August 28, 1991,
an accident just north of the IRT station killed five passengers and injured 215 others in one of the deadliest incidents in New York City Subway history. The operator of a southbound 4 train was supposed to switch to the local track because the express track was being repaired. The train was traveling in a zone, and the train derailed after the first car traveled through the switch. Five cars were damaged heavily, being scrapped on site, and the track infrastructure suffered heavy structural damage as a result. The entire infrastructure, including signals, switches, track, roadbed, cabling, and 23 support columns were replaced.
1990s renovation 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 all three stations at 14th Street–Union Square. On July 9, 1993, the contract for the project's design was awarded for $2.993 million. As part of the contract, the consultant investigated whether the MTA could reconfigure the IRT passageway, reframe the exit structure on the Lexington Avenue platforms to accommodate the relocation and widening of stairs, build a new fan room, remove stairs on the Broadway Line platforms, reframe the existing structure, and rebuild a new staircase between the intermediate and IRT mezzanines. After the consultant deemed that all of these modifications were feasible, in May 1994, the MTA and the consultant reached a supplemental agreement worth $984,998 to allow the consultant to prepare designs.
Lee Harris Pomeroy prepared plans for the project, which was to cost $38.5 million and start in December 1994, with a new entrance pavilion and elevator on the southeast corner of Union Square Park. The same year, a
New York City Transit Police station opened in the Broadway Line mezzanine. and NAB Construction Corp. was hired to renovate the station. As part of the project, power infrastructure was upgraded to allow the construction of
MetroCard vending machine equipment. The station was also to receive color-coded signs (corresponding to the
trunk colors of the services that stopped there), and six pieces of the station's original wall were to be displayed. By 1996, the renovation project was running behind schedule. The MTA had planned to install a forced-ventilation system in the station as part of a pilot program, but this was delayed. In addition, at least one staircase to the Canarsie Line platform was canceled, even though it would have relieved congestion. During the late 1990s, the MTA had received $1.6 million from
The Related Companies, which had developed a building on the site of two subway entrances at Broadway and 14th Street. Local residents requested that the MTA spend the money to improve pedestrian access around Union Square. Subsequently, mayor
Rudy Giuliani announced plans in early 1998 to spend $2.6 million on an expansion of the park; the MTA agreed to contribute $400,000 toward the project. The expansion consisted of a
pocket park in a traffic island at the southeast corner of Union Square, which was completed in 2000. The MTA announced in 1999 that it would begin installing a forced-ventilation system above the IRT platforms at Union Square. The forced-ventilation system, consisting of 32 ceiling fans, was completed by July 2000 at a cost of $1 million. In addition, as part of a program to increase
accessibility in the New York City Subway, the MTA had planned to install elevators to the Broadway Line and Canarsie Line platforms by 1998. These elevators were not completed until 2000. Furthermore, elevators to the Lexington Avenue Line platforms could not be installed because the portions of the platforms under the mezzanine were too narrow. As part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program and the
L Project, several modifications were implemented on the platform to improve circulation and to reduce crowding. The stairs from the Broadway Line platforms were rebuilt in March 2019; the stair from the downtown Broadway Line platform was reconfigured entirely. Additionally, a new escalator was installed from the east mezzanine to the platform; it cost around $15 million and opened on September 10, 2020. The Union Square Partnership proposed a $100 million overhaul of Union Square in 2021; the plans included a new subway entrance with escalator and elevator access. In April 2025, the MTA announced plans to install taller fare gates with glass panels at 20 stations, including the 14th Street–Union Square station. The fare gates would be manufactured by
Cubic Transportation Systems,
Conduent,
Scheidt & Bachmann, and STraffic as part of a pilot program to reduce fare evasion. The MTA announced in late 2025 that a customer service center would open at the station. == Station layout ==