The Wall Street station is a station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Wall Street and William Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. It is served by the 2 train at all times and the 3 train at all times except late nights.
History
Construction and opening
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.
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 a west-east shuttle under 42nd Street. This would form a roughly "H"-shaped system. The Dual Contracts entailed building the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line south of Times Square–42nd Street. 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 only measured 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.
The Public Service Commission began soliciting bids for the William Street portion of the line in September 1914. Smith, Hauser, & McIsaac submitted a low bid of $2.254 million. The awarding of the contract was delayed by a dispute over whether gas mains should be carried on temporary overpasses above the tunnel's excavation site. 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 Wall Street station opened on July 1, 1918, and was initially served by a shuttle to and from Chambers Street. 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 Wall Street station was the line's terminus until April 15, 1919, when the Clark Street Tunnel opened, allowing service to run to Brooklyn. The connection eased congestion in the Joralemon Street Tunnel, which, prior to the Clark Street Tunnel's opening, was the only tunnel carrying IRT trains between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Later years
The IRT had installed silencing devices on the station's turnstiles by early 1931. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. During the 1964–1965 fiscal year, the platforms at Wall Street, along with those at four other stations on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, were lengthened to 525 feet to accommodate a ten-car train of 51-foot IRT cars.