View source for 138th Street station (New York Central Railroad)

{{Short description|Railroad station in The Bronx, New York City (closed 1973)}}
{{Infobox station
| name=138th Street
| style= New York Central Railroad
| logo=
| logo_size=
| image=File:(King1893NYC) pg118 MOTT-HAVEN STATION, 138TH STREET, NEW-YORK CENTRAL & HUDSON-RIVER RAILROAD.jpg
| image_size=
| image_caption=An 1893 photo of the 138th Street station from "The King's Handbook of New York City."
| address=[[Park Avenue]] and 138th Street<br/>[[Mott Haven]], [[The Bronx]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| coordinates={{Coord|40.813|N|73.930|W|display=inline, title}}
| line = [[Park Avenue main line|Park Avenue main line (Hudson Line)]]
| other='''[[New York City Subway]]''':<br/>[[File:4 (1967-1979 New York City Subway bullet).svg|21px]][[File:5 (1967-1979 New York City Subway bullet).svg|21px]] trains at [[138th Street-Grand Concourse (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)|Mott Haven Avenue]]<br/>{{bus icon|12px|Local Transit}}  '''[[NYCT Bus]]''': {{NYC bus link|Bx1|Bx33}}
| platform=2 [[island platform]]s
| tracks=4
| parking=
| bicycle=
| passengers=
| pass_year=
| pass_percent=
| opened=c. 1858
| closed={{start date and age|1973|07|02}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mazza |first1=Frank |title=Penn C Will Ax 34 Runs; Curfew for Grand Central |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33197992/penn_central_changes_june_7_1973/ |access-date=June 24, 2019 |work=[[New York Daily News]] |date=June 7, 1973 |page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
| rebuilt={{start date and age|1886|p=y}}, {{start date and age|1897|p=y}}, {{start date and age|1966|p=y}}
| electrified=700[[volt|V]] ([[Direct current|DC]]) [[third rail]]
| accessible=
| code=
| owned=[[New York Central Railroad]]
| zone=
| former=Mott Haven<br />The Bronx
| other_services_header=Former services
| other_services= {{Adjacent stations|system1=New York Central Railroad
|line1=main|left1=Yonkers|right1=125th Street
|line2=Hudson Division|left2=Sedgwick Avenue|right2=125th Street
|line3=Harlem Division|left3=Melrose|right3=125th Street|to-left3=Chatham|to-right3=New York
}}
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-custom = {{Infobox mapframe |shape=none |line=none |marker=rail |zoom=14 }}
}}
The '''138th Street station''' was a station on the [[Harlem Line|Harlem]] and [[Hudson Line (Metro-North)|Hudson Lines]] of the [[New York Central Railroad]], serving the community of [[Mott Haven, Bronx|Mott Haven]] in [[the Bronx]], [[New York City]]. It was the southernmost station along both branches until 1973. The [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad]] also ran through this station but did not stop here.
==History==
The [[New York and Harlem Railroad]] expanded their main line across the Harlem River through Mott Haven into [[Williams Bridge (Metro-North station)|Williams Bridge]] from [[Park Avenue Bridge (New York City)|a bridge built in 1841]]. This bridge would be replaced in 1867, 1897, and 1956. A station named Mott Haven was known to exist as far back as 1858. The station was rebuilt in a much more elaborate fashion in 1886, with the construction of a [[Richardson Romanesque]] structure designed by [[Robert Henderson Robertson]], and was hailed as "the finest and most complete way station in the country". Originally at street level, the tracks were later raised above ground level as part of a grade elimination project in order to accommodate the 1897 version of the Park Avenue Bridge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/04/24/109698839.pdf|title=TO RAISE THE CENTRAL'S TRACKS.; The Park Avenue Improvement and the New Harlem Drawbridge.|date=April 24, 1893|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 21, 2017|language=en}}</ref> A major grade elimination project in the Bronx north of the station also took place between 1888 and 1890.
Throughout most of the station's existence, it has been in relatively close proximity to mass transit. <!--The [[138th Street Crosstown Line]] streetcar connected to the station until it was replaced by what is today the Bx37 bus.-->In 1887, the [[Suburban Rapid Transit Company]] built [[138th Street (IRT Third Avenue Line)|a station]] along the [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third Avenue Elevated]] several blocks to the east. By 1918, its successor, the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] expanded the [[IRT Jerome Avenue Line]] south from 149th Street to the [[Lexington Avenue Tunnel]] into the [[IRT Lexington Avenue Line]] in [[Harlem]], and built a subway station beneath the vicinity of the railroad station. The subway station still exists.
[[File:149th_Street_-_Grand_Concourse_to_never_built_NYCRR_Station.JPG|thumb|149th Street - Grand Concourse to never built NYCRR Station]]
During the [[Great Depression]], New York Central had proposed to build a new station in Mott Haven eleven blocks to the north at 149th Street, just south of Mott Haven Junction. Mosaics at the [[149th Street–Grand Concourse (New York City Subway)|149th Street–Grand Concourse subway station complex]] direct commuters to this proposed station which was never built.<ref>[http://forgotten-ny.com/1998/08/subway-signs-to-nowhere-rowan-street-ny-central-and-the-k-train/ Subway Signs to Nowhere (Forgotten New York)]</ref> Only the tunnel to the station was built and was closed by the [[New York City Transit Authority]].
Declining ridership following World War II, along with the decline of the South Bronx led to the demolition of the previous structure in 1966, and the replacement with little more than sheltered platforms. As with other NYC stations in the Bronx, 138th Street became a [[Penn Central]] station once the [[New York Central Railroad|NYC]] & [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]s merged in 1968. Penn Central acquired the [[New Haven Railroad]] in 1969, but the New Haven still never stopped there. However, because of the railroad's serious financial distress following the merger, commuter service was turned over to the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] in 1972. The station was closed by Penn Central on July 2, 1973, along with [[Morrisania (NYCRR station)|Morrisania]], and [[183rd Street (NYCRR station)|183rd Street]] stations in the [[South Bronx]].<ref>[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VXoLf4tmiPQ/TWFBppo6s_I/AAAAAAAABjU/rbeUDEwnuLE/s1600/2Ave_Hag_Bronx.jpg  Hagstrom's Street Map of The Bronx; 1943 (War of Yesterday)]</ref> The site of the station is today a location of a local community garden.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.iridetheharlemline.com/2015/05/21/the-lost-train-station-of-the-bronx-138th-street-mott-haven/ The Lost Train Station of the Bronx – 138th Street, Mott Haven (I Ride the Harlem Line)]
{{NYC Main Line stations}}
[[Category:Former railway stations in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Former New York Central Railroad stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the Bronx]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1858]]
[[Category:Mott Haven, Bronx]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1972]]