241st Street · 238th Street-Nereid Avenue · 233rd Street · 225th Street · 219th Street · Gun Hill Road · Burke Avenue · Allerton Avenue · Pelham Parkway · Bronx Park East · East 180th Street · West Farms Sq.-East Tremont Ave.-177th St. · 174th Street · Freeman Street · Simpson Street · Intervale Avenue · Prospect Avenue · Jackson Avenue · 3rd Avenue-149th Street · 149th Street-Grand Concourse · 135th Street · 125th Street · 116th Street · 110th Street-Central Park North · 96th Street · 72nd Street · Times Square-42nd Street · 34th Street-Penn Station · 14th Street · Chambers Street · Park Place · Fulton Street · Wall Street · Clark Street · Borough Hall · Hoyt Street · Nevins Street · Atlantic Avenue · Bergen Street · Grand Army Plaza · Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum · Franklin Avenue · President Street · Sterling Street · Winthrop Street · Church Avenue · Beverly Road · Newkirk Avenue · Flatbush Avenue

Dyre Avenue · Baychester Avenue · Gun Hill Road · Pelham Parkway · Morris Park · East 180th Street · West Farms Sq.-East Tremont Ave.-177th St. · 174th Street · Freeman Street · Simpson Street · Intervale Avenue · Prospect Avenue · Jackson Avenue · 3rd Avenue-149th Street · 149th Street-Grand Concourse · 138th Street · 125th Street · 86th Street · 59th Street · Grand Central · 14th Street-Union Square · Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall · Fulton Street · Wall Street · Bowling Green · Borough Hall · Nevins Street · Atlantic Avenue · Franklin Avenue · President Street · Sterling Street · Winthrop Street · Church Avenue · Beverly Road · Newkirk Avenue · Flatbush Avenue

Overview

Opened: 8/23/1920

Two tracks, two side platforms connected in a "U" shape at the south end where the fare control is located. Elevators allow access to the street. This was not meant to be a terminal station. The line was mapped to continue in Nostrand Avenue to Sheepshead Bay. The contract was in two or more sections of which only the one, ending at this station, was built. To accommodate a crossover, the south end entry at Avenue H was added on slightly after the station's opening to make the U-shape platform. Indicia of the more recent construction of this exit are seen in the tilework. Other indications were in the floor and walls but these were covered over in the mid 1990s reconstruction.

It was agitated for by the local community leaders during the mid 1990s renovation to open an exit on the west side of Flatbush Avenue next to Brooklyn College. This was not done. The room for this exit was given to utility and crew space.

There was on the south side of Avenue H between Nostrand and Flatbush Avenues a substation for the BMT trolley and subway. It was demolished around 1960. There remain today manholes in Avenue H for the BRT and BQT from this substation. The site is now a city carpark for park-and-ride customers of the IRT. It is virtually empty despite the huge increase in riders from growth around and south of the station. The community is urging to build a bus and van depot here with direct entry into the station. So far nothing has come of the idea.

For many years this station and Newkirk Avenue station were plagued with flooding in heavy storms. The water literally overflowed the trackway and platforms. The cause was a refilling of the local water table with no withdrawal from it. There was from before the subway the the Flatbush Water Company on what is now the grounds of Brooklyn College. It drew off of the ground water for its supply and thus kept the level lower than the stations. Recall that waterproofing was done mainly when the route descended below the water table. The water business folded in the 1930s, freeing the land for the College. But there was no more drainage of the water and the ground gradualy recharged to overflowing. By the mid 1950s flooding at Flatbush and Newkirk stations was routine and disruptive to the service. Many times trains were turned at President Street or Church Avenue or the line was closed completely. Riders were sent upstairs to buses sent out to continue the run to Flatbush Abenue. Fixups in the 1960s and early 1970s were unsuccessful. In the 1980s a final solution was worked out by waterproofing the structure and laying in larger storm mains. Now the trains flow into and out of Flatbush Avenue regardless of the weather upstairs.

Artwork

Flatbush Floogies, Muriel Castanis (1996)

Photo Gallery

Image 451 (77k, 492x755) Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 455 (51k, 750x523) Photo by: David of Broadway Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 3164 (202k, 1024x692) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 3325 (186k, 1024x668) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 3367 (176k, 1024x683) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Flatbush Avenue
Image 3702 (156k, 973x696) Photo by: Jeff Alterman Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 37609 (177k, 1044x788) Photo by: Richard Panse Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 38734 (210k, 1024x669) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 40120 (141k, 702x929) Photo by: Brian Weinberg Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 58204 (84k, 800x600) Photo by: Dante D. Angerville Location: Flatbush Avenue
Image 59408 (204k, 1044x788) Photo by: Aliandro Brathwaite Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 61666 (55k, 794x596) Photo by: Phillip Lee Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 61673 (69k, 804x603) Photo by: Phillip Lee Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 80802 (94k, 800x600) Photo by: Phillip Lee Location: Flatbush Avenue	Image 137426 (297k, 1024x687) Photo by: Wilfredo Castillo Location: Flatbush Avenue

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