125th Street

The 125th Street station (formerly the Manhattan Street station) is an elevated local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 125th Street and Broadway, at the border of the Manhattanville and Morningside Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, it is served by the 1 train at all times. The 125th Street station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes 125th Street began on June 18 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The station's platforms were lengthened in 1948, and the station was renovated in the 2000s. The 125th Street station contains two side platforms and three tracks; the center track is not used in regular service. The station is the only one on the 2,174-foot-long (663 m) Manhattan Valley Viaduct, which carries the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line across a natural valley surrounding 125th Street. The platforms contain windscreens and canopies. The station house beneath the platforms contains exits to 125th Street and Broadway. The Manhattan Valley Viaduct is a New York City designated landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864, but development of what became the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. 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, and all legal conflicts over the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.

The Manhattan Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line). While most of the original line was designed to be underground, the topography of Manhattanville necessitated the construction of a viaduct between 122nd and 135th Streets. At the time, the section of 125th Street in West Harlem was known as Manhattan Street; although engineers found that it was technically feasible to dig a tunnel under Manhattan Street, they concluded that such a tunnel would have required a steep grade. The IRT's engineers originally planned to build a standard elevated structure, similar to those built in other parts of the rapid transit system, with steel columns that supported plate girder spans. However, this plan would have required rerouting the Third Avenue/125th Street streetcar line, which ran along Manhattan Street. As such, prior to the start of construction, the plans were changed to a steel viaduct with a double-hinged arch. The elevated rail section runs from 122nd to 135th Street and was originally called the Manhattan Valley Viaduct. The name was changed to avoid confusion with the nearby viaduct over Riverside Drive, which also goes by this name. The aboveground railway has five sections: two embankments at either end, a truss arch over 125th Street, and plate girder bridges connecting the arch with the embankments on either side. During the plan

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