Christopher Street is a station on the

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire ...

system. Located on

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christophe ...

between

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwic ...

and Hudson Streets in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, it is served by the

Hoboken–33rd Street Hoboken–33rd Street is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). It is colored blue on the PATH service map and trains on this service display blue marker lights. This service operates from the Hoboken Terminal ...

and

Journal Square–33rd Street Journal Square–33rd Street is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). It is colored yellow on the PATH service map and trains on this service display yellow marker lights. This service operates from Journal S ...

lines on weekdays, and by the

Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) (JSQ-33 via HOB) is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) railroad. It is colored yellow and blue on the PATH service map, and trains on this service display both yell ...

line on weekends.

History

The station opened on February 25, 1908, as part of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad extension between New Jersey and 33rd Street. It received a renovation in 1986, during which the station was closed completely for a period of time. The station has long seen heavy traffic not only from passengers going to Jersey City and Hoboken, but also by Manhattan residents traveling from Greenwich Village to Midtown. The nearest subway station, Christopher Street-Sheridan Square, is a block away. The already busy station received even more passengers after the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, which resulted in the destruction of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

PATH station. With Christopher Street becoming the closest PATH station to New Jersey, it started experiencing serious overcrowding. The

Port Authority In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other ...

had to make it an exit-only station during the morning rush hour. The Port Authority planned to build a second entrance at Christopher and Bedford Street (a block and a half east of the current entrance), to ease overcrowding at the station, but local opposition caused the project to be canceled. Residents were concerned that the project would endanger the surrounding neighborhood's fragile historic buildings (through the vibrations that a major construction project would cause) and disrupt business and traffic. In 2002, Christopher Street station was used by an average of 7,400 people per day, or about 2.701 million per year. This was more than twice as many as the 1.314 million passengers that used the station during 2001.

Station layout

The station entrance is in its own free-standing building, with a restored marquee displaying the original "Hudson Tunnels" name adorning the entranceway. Passengers descend a narrow stairway with a number of curves before arriving at the southwest end of the narrow center

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular ...

. Biff Elrod's mural "Ascent-Descent" (showing images of users of the PATH trains, ascending or descending the stairs) originally painted on site in August 1986 as a temporary installation for the Public Art Fund, and later purchased by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was restored in 1999.

References

External links

PATH - Christopher Street StationHudson & Manhattan Railroad/Hudson Tubes

Christopher Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{PATH (rail system), state=collapsed PATH stations in Manhattan Christopher Street Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908 West Village 1908 establishments in New York City Railway stations located underground in New York (state)