21st Street station (IND Crosstown Line)

The 21st Street station (signed as 21st Street–Van Alst^[2]) 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.

21 Street
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Platform view, looking south
Station statistics
Address	21st Street & Jackson Avenue Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Long Island City
Coordinates	40.744591°N 73.948674°W / 40.744591; -73.948674
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Crosstown Line
Services	G  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus: B32, B62 MTA Bus: Q67, Q103 LIRR Hunterspoint Avenue station
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	August 19, 1933 (91 years ago) (1933-08-19)[2]
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2023	448,606[3]  20%
Rank	397 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Court Square Terminus Greenpoint Avenue toward Church Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Court Square to Greenpoint Avenue
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

History

21st Street was part of the first phase of the IND Crosstown Line, with service south to Nassau Avenue in Brooklyn.^[2] The site of the station was excavated by April 1929.^[4] The station opened on August 19, 1933.^[2] The secondary name "Van Alst" refers to Van Alst Avenue, the former name of 21st Street.^[5][6] The patriarch of the Van Alst family was Belgian Dutch sailor Joris Stevensen, who settled in what was then New Amsterdam in 1652, and purchased land in Long Island City in 1670. Stevensen was known as "de Caper van Alst" ("the sailor from Aalst"), leading future members of the family to assume the surname "Van Alst".^{[5][7]: 2 [8]: 4 [9]: 7–2} The family later constructed a private 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][7][10]: 12–13, 16, 19–22} The Van Alst name is shared with the Van Alst Playground, on 21st Street and 30th Avenue in Astoria.^[5]

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent
Platform level	Northbound	← toward Court Square (Terminus)
	Island platform
	Southbound	→ toward Church Avenue (Greenpoint Avenue) →

Tile caption below trim line

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.^[11][12] The G stops at the station at all times.^[13] The station is between Court Square to the north and Greenpoint Avenue to the south.^[14]

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.^[2] The tiles were part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND.^[15] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. Because the Crosstown Line does not merge into a line that enters Manhattan at either end, all stations on the line had green tiles.^[16][17] 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.^[11] There is a full-length mezzanine above the platform; however, only the northern half is open and has two staircases from the platform.^[11][18] The southern half had three staircases to the platform and is used for storage and employee offices.^[18][19]

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.^{[18][19][20][21][22]} 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.^[11][22]

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.^[12][18][20]

References

1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. "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.
3. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
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. LaVigne, Elisabeth A.; Catts, Wade P. (April 2016). "Archeological Monitoring at the Site of the Van Alst Family Cemetery" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
8. Roberts, William I. IV (May 1991). "Archaeological and Historical Sensitivity Evaluation of the Korea News Project" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
9. "Final Environmental Impact Statement for Dutch KILLS Rezoning and Related Actions; Chapter 7: Historic Resources" (PDF). New York City Planning Commission. August 29, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
10. Kearns, Betsy; Saunders, Cece; Schneiderman-Fox, Faline; Historical Perspectives, Inc. "Long Island City Rezoning: Preliminary Archaeological Assessment" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
11. 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.
12. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Long Island City" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
13. "G Subway Timetable, Effective June 30, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
14. "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
15. "Tile Colors a Guide in the New Subway; Decoration Scheme Changes at Each Express Stop to Tell Riders Where They Are". The New York Times. August 22, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
16. Carlson, Jen (February 18, 2016). "Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something". Gothamist. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
17. Gleason, Will (February 18, 2016). "The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
18. "Abandoned Station Entrance: 21st Van Alst". ltvsquad.com. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
19. "G Train". stationreporter.net. February 4, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
20. Cox, Jeremiah. "21 St-Van Alst (G) - The SubwayNut". www.subwaynut.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
21. Cohen, Billie (January 10, 2008). "The G Train From Smith-9th Streets to Long Island City". The New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
22. "www.nycsubway.org: IND Crosstown Line". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved February 19, 2016.

External links

• 21st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platform from Google Maps Street View