21st Street station (IND Crosstown Line)

21st Street (also formerly called 21st Street–Van Alst[1]) is a station on the IND Crosstown Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 21st Street and Jackson Avenue in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, Queens, it is served by the G train at all times.

For the station actually at 21st Street & 41st Avenue, see 21st Street–Queensbridge (IND 63rd Street Line).
 21 Street
 
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Station statistics
Address21st Street & Jackson Avenue
Queens, NY 11101
BoroughQueens
LocaleLong Island City
Coordinates40.744591°N 73.948674°W / 40.744591; -73.948674
DivisionB (IND)
Line   IND Crosstown Line
Services   G  (all times)
Transit NYCT Bus: B32, B62
MTA Bus: Q67, Q103
LIRR: City Terminal Zone (at Hunterspoint Avenue)
StructureUnderground
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
Other information
OpenedAugust 19, 1933 (1933-08-19)[1]
Station code282[2]
Opposite-
direction
transfer		Yes
Former/other names21st Street–Van Alst
Van Alst Avenue−21st Street[1]
Traffic
2019535,536[3]  2.7%
Rank407 out of 424[3]
Station succession
Next northCourt Square: G 
Next southGreenpoint Avenue: G 

History

21st Street was part of the first phase of the IND Crosstown Line, with service south to Nassau Avenue in Brooklyn.[1] The site of the station was excavated by April 1929.[4] The station opened on August 19, 1933.[1] The secondary name "Van Alst" refers to Van Alst Avenue, the former name of 21st Street.[5][6] The Van Alst family had settled in Long Island City in 1652 during Dutch colonization, and constructed a family cemetery (now an empty lot at the former site of the West Disinfecting Company facility) on Jackson Avenue and Orchard Street near modern Queens Plaza.[5] The Van Alst name is shared with the Van Alst Playground, on 21st Street and 30th Avenue in Astoria.[5]

Station layout
G Street level Exit/entrance
B1 Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
B2
Platform level		 Northbound ← toward Court Square (Terminus)
Island platform
Southbound → toward Church Avenue (Greenpoint Avenue) →
Stair on Jackson Avenue

The station has two tracks and one island platform, built with a slight curve, as is Jackson Avenue at this location.[7][8] The trackside wall trim line is green with a black border and small "21" tile captions run underneath in white numbering on a black background.[1] The platform and mezzanine columns are Hunter green (previously they were violet) with every other platform column having the standard black station name plate with white lettering. A booth for NYPD Transit Police District 20 is located at the southern end of the platform.[7] There is a full length mezzanine above the platform; however, only the northern half is open and has two staircases from the platform.[7][9] The southern half had three staircases to the platform and is used for storage and employee offices.[9][10]

Like many stations on the Crosstown Line, this station is in poor condition as the wall tile has been damaged by underground springs, particularly on the southbound side.[9][10][11][12][13] Despite this damage, there are no plans to make repairs.

North of this station, a center track briefly forms between the two main tracks of the Crosstown Line. This track allows trains to terminate on either track at Court Square. As a result, there is a train route selection panel at the north end of the northbound track.[7][13]

Exits

The station's only entrance/exit, from the northern mezzanine, has a turnstile bank, token booth, and three street stairs to the three-way intersection of 21st Street, Jackson Avenue, and 47th Avenue, at the point where New York State Route 25A turns from 21st Street to Jackson Avenue.[8][9][11]

References
  1. "Two Subway Units Open at Midnight – Links in City-Owned System in Queens and Brooklyn to Have 15 Stations" (PDF). The New York Times. August 18, 1933. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  2. "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  3. "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2014–2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  4. Snapp, Fletcher G. (April 24, 1929). "Newtown Creek Tunnel First Tube of Kind Bored Without Compressed Air". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Newspapers.com. p. 3. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  5. Roberts, Sam (November 3, 2014). "Long in Repose, Last Remnants of a Founding Family Will Leave Long Island City". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  6. "Ely Subway Stop to Open – Queens Station on City-Owned Line Begins Service Tomorrow" (PDF). The New York Times. August 26, 1939. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  7. Review of the G Line: Appendices (PDF) (Report). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 10, 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  8. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Long Island City" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  9. "Abandoned Station Entrance: 21st Van Alst". ltvsquad.com. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  10. "G Train". stationreporter.net. February 4, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  11. Cox, Jeremiah. "21 St-Van Alst (G) - The SubwayNut". www.subwaynut.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  12. Cohen, Billie (January 10, 2008). "The G Train From Smith-9th Streets to Long Island City". The New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  13. "www.nycsubway.org: IND Crosstown Line". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
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