NYC’s Abandoned Subway Stations: Hoyt-Schermerhorn’s Disused Platform

In an effort to expose NYC’s abandoned subway stations and incomplete platforms and levels, we’re taking you inside the Hoyt-Schermerhorn stop in Brooklyn. The station opened in 1936 as part of the IND Line and served the Fulton Street Line, which originally had local and express trains. Manhattan-bound express trains stopped at Jay Street-Borough Hall and continued north, as you can see on the map below. Northbound local trains were set to terminate at Court Street (today the site of the Transit Museum), but that station was closed in 1946 due to low ridership. After that, only express trains ran through the station, making the outer platforms obsolete. They’ve been disused ever since. Today, the A, C and G trains run on the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station’s inner platforms. While waiting for those trains, you can clearly see the abandoned platforms across the way.

1937 IND Subway Map via nycsubway.org

In 2009, City Council member Letitia James petitioned the MTA to rename the station after Michael Jackson, who filmed his music video “Bad” there. Alas, the MTA refused to change the stop’s name to Hoyt-Schermerhorn-Jackson.

Check out this roundup of 7 of NYC’s Abandoned Subway Stations and and more detailed history of the Abandoned 18th Street Subway Station on the 6 line.