Wilson Avenue opened on July 14, 1928, as part of an extension of the Canarsie Line. This extension, done as part of the Dual Contracts, connected Montrose Avenue, which had opened four years earlier, to Broadway Junction, which was the western end of the already-operating elevated line to Canarsie.[4] The station opened next to the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery, making the eastbound platform overlook the pre-existing cemetery.[5]
On September 21, 1984, Irma Lozada, a New York City Transit Police officer, was murdered at an abandoned lot south of the station. Lozada was part of the Plain Clothes Anti-Crime unit when she was gunned down by Darryl Jeter, a chain snatcher that took her service gun as she attempted to arrest him for stealing a necklace from a rider. Lozada was the first female police officer to be killed in action in New York City.[6]
In the 2010s, the ground-level Manhattan-bound platform was made accessible at a cost of between three and five million dollars under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) via the use of a ramp from the Wilson Avenue entrance. The elevated Canarsie-bound platform was not proposed to get ADA access since it would be much more costly to add an elevator up to the Canarsie-bound level.[7]
The portion of the Bay Ridge Branch that parallels the station is planned to be the location of one of the stations on the proposed Interborough Express, which would also include an in-system transfer to the current Canarsie Line station.[8]
Station house, entrance/exit, fare control, station agent Wheelchair ramp at dead-end of Wilson Avenue east of Moffat Street for northbound trains only
Street entrance prior to accessible ramp implementation and staircase raised by one step.
The station, which was designed by Robert Ridgway and Squire J. Vickers,[3] has some features that are not found elsewhere in the system.[9] It is squeezed in between the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery, to the east, and the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Bay Ridge Branch, to the west. The two tracks and two side platforms are on different levels, making Wilson Avenue the only station on the Canarsie Line where this occurs.[9] Since the platforms are on different levels, each has a different design. The outbound track sits on a low elevated structure; immediately south of the station, the outbound track passes over Central Avenue before descending into a tunnel toward Bushwick Avenue–Aberdeen Street. The inbound track is immediately below the outbound track, and this portion of the station gives the impression of being underground, but it is really at street level.[9][10]
The northbound platform
The Rockaway Parkway-bound (upper level) platform has a canopy along the entire length of the platform, supported by a beige concrete retaining wall with curved green supports extending from the wall at regular intervals.[9][10] A fence runs along the track side of the southbound platform, separating the subway station from the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery, which is visible directly through the fence.[9][10] The Manhattan-bound (lower level) platform has tiling and name plaques, which is typical for a Canarsie Line underground station. A concrete wall closes off the east side of the lower level.[9] The mosaic band is predominantly green at edges with a vivid multicolored design throughout, 28 colors in all. The trackside wall once had tiles that matched those of the platform, but these tiles were removed sometime after 1982, and the trackside wall is currently the same plain, dark color as a typical New York City Subway tunnel wall.[9][10]
Exit
There is one entrance and exit to the station, which is in a dead-end at the foot of Wilson Avenue, just east of Moffat Street.[11] There are five steps leading up to the station entrance,[9][10] as well as a accessible ramp.[12] The entrance feeds directly onto the northbound platform with stairs to southbound service on the upper level.[9][10]
Stookey, Lee (1994). Subway ceramics: a history and iconography of mosaic and bas relief signs and plaques in the New York City subway system. Brattleboro, Vt: L. Stookey. ISBN978-0-9635486-1-0. OCLC31901471.
Note: Service variations, station closures, and reroutes are not reflected here. Stations with asterisks have no regular peak, reverse peak, or midday service on that route. See linked articles for more information.
Stations and line segments in italics are closed, demolished, or planned (temporary closures are marked with asterisks). Track connections to other lines' terminals are displayed in brackets. Struck through passenger track connections are closed or unused in regular service.
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New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
(all times)
Partially ADA-accessible; accessibility to rest of station planned (northbound only, southbound planned)
3.2%
