St Mary's (Whitechapel) station opened on 3 March 1884. It had two underground
side platforms and a simple brick station building on the south side of
Whitechapel Road. Both elements of the station name are derived from the church of
St Mary Matfelon. It was located on an eastern spur of the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway, a line that connected the eastern end of the
District Railway (DR) at Mansion House to the
Metropolitan Railway (the Met) at Aldgate and completed the
Circle line. The railway through St Mary's permitted the DR to reach their new eastern terminus at
Whitechapel, the DR and the Met to route trains onto the
East London Railway (ELR) and for the
South Eastern Railway (SER) to access the Met via the ELR. The first service at the station was run by the SER between St Mary's and
Addiscombe Road station in Croydon, making use of the connection to the ELR. The SER service last ran on 30 September 1884 with DR and Met services starting on 1 October 1884. DR services were extended eastwards from Whitechapel in 1902.
Fourth-rail electric services replaced steam trains run by the DR, and services on to the ELR were withdrawn on 1 August 1905. The Met withdrew their services running on to the ELR on 3 December 1906. Following electrification of the ELR, through Met services resumed on 31 March 1913. It was renamed St Mary's (Whitechapel Road) on 26 January 1923. The DR and the Met were incorporated into
London Transport on 1 July 1933 and became known as the
District and
Metropolitan lines. The eastern section of the District line was very overcrowded by the mid 1930s. In order to relieve this, the peak-hours Metropolitan line service was diverted from the ELR to Barking in 1936.
Aldgate East, the next station to the west was resited further east and new entrances provided at the eastern end. St Mary's was less well used and the new eastern entrances would be very near to it, so it could be abandoned. It closed to passengers on 1 May 1938. In 1940, during the
Second World War, the disused platforms were leased to
Stepney Borough Council for use as
air-raid shelters. Works were required to convert the space, including bricking-up the platform edges with
fletton bricks. It was planned to accommodate 848 people and additional space was also found under an adjacent building. Costs increased because the platforms were found to be wooden with an
asphalt surface and had to be strengthened with concrete. The former station booking hall was intended to provide the entrance. It was destroyed by bombing on 22 October 1940, during
the Blitz. A replacement entrance was also destroyed by bombing on 19 April 1941. The bricked-up platforms remain. Cast iron platform columns, holding up girders and the jack-arched roof are still in situ. The lattice-design footbridge remains, with decking and steps removed. ==St Mary's Curve==