Construction and opening

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), and was planned to stretch between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 178th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, with a stop at Woodhaven Boulevard.^[3][4] The line was first proposed in 1925.^[5] Construction of the line was approved by the New York City Board of Estimate on October 4, 1928.^[6] The line was constructed using the cut-and-cover tunneling method, and to allow pedestrians to cross, temporary bridges were built over the trenches.^[7]

The first section of the line opened on August 19, 1933 from the connection to the Eighth Avenue Line at 50th Street to Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights.^[8] Later that year, a $23 million loan was approved to finance the remainder of the line, along with other IND lines.^[9] The remainder of the line was built by the Public Works Administration.^[10][11] In 1934 and 1935, construction of the extension to Jamaica was suspended for 15 months and was halted by strikes.^[12] Construction was further delayed due to a strike in 1935, instigated by electricians opposing wages paid by the General Railway Signal Company.^[13] By August 1935, work had resumed on the Woodhaven Boulevard station and three other stations on the Queens Boulevard Line.^[14]

During the station's construction, the main road of Queens Boulevard was depressed into underpasses at the intersections with Woodhaven Boulevard and Horace Harding Boulevard (also known as Nassau Boulevard). The easternmost underpass now carries Queens Boulevard below the Long Island Expressway (LIE), which replaced Horace Harding Boulevard.^[15]

In August 1936, tracks were installed all the way to 178th Street, and the stations to Union Turnpike were completed.^[12] On December 31, 1936, the IND Queens Boulevard Line was extended by eight stops, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km), from its previous terminus at Roosevelt Avenue to Union Turnpike.^[16][17][18] As a result of the extension, areas in Elmhurst were accessible by subway.^[19] The E train, which initially served all stops on the new extension, began making express stops in April 1937,^[20] and local GG trains began serving the extension at the time.^[21]

Later years

The station was originally named "Woodhaven Blvd–Slattery Plaza", after Slattery Plaza, the area where four main Queens thoroughfares (Eliot Avenue and Horace Harding, Woodhaven, and Queens Boulevards) intersected.^[22][23] The plaza, which no longer exists, featured several "mom-and-pop" small businesses.^[23] The plaza and subway station were named after Colonel John R. Slattery,^[22] former New York City Board of Transportation chief engineer who died in 1932 while supervising the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line.^[24] The construction of the LIE along the Horace Harding corridor in the 1950s resulted in the demolition of Slattery Plaza, although the name tablets retained the original name even after the plaza's demolition.^[22][23][25]

Exits

The full-time side at the west end of the mezzanine has three street stairs. One leads to the northeast corner of Queens Boulevard and 59th Avenue, the closest to the mall. The other two staircases are through a long passageway to both southern corners of Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard, acting as a pedestrian underpass outside of fare control.^[53][56] These staircases date back to the station's original opening.^[15] There is an entrance to the southeast corner of Woodhaven and Queens Boulevards that, as a result of the construction of the Long Island Expressway in the mid-1950s, leads only to a sidewalk isolated between two entrance ramps to the expressway, requiring passengers to cross traffic signals on all sides.^[56][57]

The part-time portion at the former Horace Harding Boulevard on the east end has a closed and removed booth and one street stair to the north side of Queens Boulevard at 92nd Street. This entrance abuts two expressway ramps and leads to the former Horace Harding Boulevard, now replaced by the LIE exit ramp.^[53][56][57] This exit still has a directional mosaic pointing to it, listing the exit as 60th Avenue and 92nd Street on the north side of Queens Boulevard.^[57] The construction of the Long Island Expressway removed this intersection.^[53][56] This is also a staircase that dates to the station's opening.^[15]

There is a closed exit to the south side of Queens Boulevard underneath the Long Island Expressway, between the ramp to the eastbound expressway and Eliot Avenue. It is covered with a trapdoor.^[57][58]