Construction and opening

Station prior to renovation

New York City mayor John Francis Hylan's original plans for the Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over 100 miles (160 km) of new lines and taking over nearly 100 miles (160 km) of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), the two major subway operators of the time.^[3][4] The IND Sixth Avenue Line was designed to replace the elevated IRT Sixth Avenue Line.^[5] The first portion of the line to be constructed was then known as the Houston–Essex Street Line, which ran under Houston, Essex, and Rutgers Streets. The contract for the line was awarded to Corson Construction in January 1929,^[6] and construction of this section officially started in May 1929.^[7]

The East Broadway station opened on January 1, 1936, as the southern terminus of the first four stations to open on the Sixth Avenue Line. Two local tracks split from a junction with the Eighth Avenue Line south of West Fourth Street–Washington Square, running east under Houston Street and south under Essex Street to a temporary terminal at East Broadway.^[8] The station was initially served by E trains to Church Avenue.^[9][10] Just after midnight on April 9, 1936, trains began running under the East River via the Rutgers Street Tunnel, which connected the Houston-Essex Street Line with the north end of the Culver Line at a junction with the Eighth Avenue Line north of Jay Street–Borough Hall. E trains were sent through the connection to Church Avenue.^[9][10] When further sections of the Sixth Avenue Line opened on December 15, 1940, the F train replaced the E train at the East Broadway station.^[11]

Station renovation

Station during renovation

In June 2018, improvements to the East Broadway station's exits were proposed as part of the development of the controversial 247 Cherry, 269 South Street, and 259 Clinton Street skyscrapers. The developers planned to create an entrance at the northeastern corner of Rutgers and Madison Streets by reusing part of the existing closed exit and creating a new street stair parallel to Madison Street from the passage.^[12] In addition to a new exit, the developers planned to make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with the installation of elevators.^[13] The plan was approved that December,^[14] but the developments were blocked by a New York Supreme Court judge in February 2020, making the proposed improvements unlikely to occur.^[15]

The Rutgers Street Tunnel was refurbished starting in late 2020.^[16][17] As part of the work, the East Broadway station's structural system was repaired and painted, while the platform edges, wall tiles, and stairs were replaced. Work was completed in February 2021.^[18]

Unfinished station

Station mezzanine

Escalator

The north half of the open intermediate level mezzanine was designed to eventually become a station of the unbuilt IND Worth Street Line. A locked door, located in the north end of the mezzanine, reveals additional closed platform space and an electrical room that hides the rest of the trackway and platform space. In this closed space, the platform floor drops to the level of the intended westbound trackway for the unbuilt line.^[21]

The unused space runs for no more than 15 feet (4.6 m) before ending at a solid wall. Another door that leads to the electrical room hides the eastbound trackway. Near the north end of this station, a different ceiling structure angling across marks where the unbuilt subway would have gone.^[22] The ramp that descends from the full-time side would have led to the same intermediate level, with a station facility in between, but that was never constructed. On the open intermediate level's mezzanine, the unusual spacing of some of the pillars marks where the line's platforms would have been placed.^[23][24]

Exits

The station has two mezzanines, four open staircases, three closed staircases, and one escalator. The full-time entrance at Madison Street has one street staircase, while the part-time entrance at Canal and Rutgers Streets has three. A passageway outside of fare control connects the two areas.

All exits to the station are street stairs. There is an exit to the northeastern corner of Canal Street and Essex Street, the western side of Rutgers Street between Canal Street and East Broadway, to the southeastern corner of East Broadway and Rutgers Street, and to the northwestern corner of Madison Street and Rutgers Street.^[25]

In addition to the open entrances, there are two closed exits to the southwestern and northeastern corners of Henry Street and Rutgers Street that lead to the middle of the passageway outside fare control. There was also a short passage with a street stair parallel to Rutgers Street to the northeastern corner of Madison Street and Rutgers Street.