Mar 28 2025
New York Subway Museum
Photos by Will T Rogers, Queens NY
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The New York Subway Museum is in an old subway station (actually it's called the Transit Museum)
How to get to the Transit Museum (Subway Museum) of New York located in Downtown Brooklyn
You pay to enter at a vintage change booth; original fare on subway was 5¢, which lasted from 1904 to almost 1950
The NYC Subway Museum lives at the old Court Street station in Brooklyn
An "iron maiden" with coin slot, used to collect fares at unstaffed entrances; they were placed between floor-to-ceiling see-through gate barriers and were the only way to get to the trains; alongside them were similarly secure high-exit turnstiles that rotate outward as station exits
Have a seat
In the museum, but not a NYC subway train
Color abounds in some places under the streets
Pay your fare!
How nicely riders dressed back then (anonymous web photo)
Get change for the fare
Long-ago destination (maybe to the 1939 World's Fair?)
Long-ago subway train signal
Subway caboose?
Feel free to enter and sit in a 1920s subway car
Or try this more modern car
Station as it was
Station after cosmic rays approaching the speed of light reach earth :)
Are those air conditioning vents on ceiling?
Car made partly of wood
Overhead fans were important in the summer
Care to take a seat at City Hall subway station?
Imagine everyone on the train dressed in business attire
Vintage New York subway map showing only "BMT" or Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company, current lines J through Z. There also were "IRT" or Interborough Rapid Transit Company, current lines 1-7. Later came the "IND" or Independent City-Owned Subway System, current lines A through G. Today these lines have been merged into one system. But because of recent line shiftings the N,Q R lines, which originally ran on BMT tracks, now run on what in the past were IND tracks
Easier to walk between cars
One vintage advertising cat and one contemporary museum cat
Model of one of the old "el" trains on either 9th, 6th, 3rd, or 2nd Avenues
The subway cars display original subway ads from 1920s, 1930s, 1940s
Some of the products advertised no longer exist!
Back when the subways were run nicely!
Yes things were once nice down here
Queens County beach on Atlantic Ocean
Try buying this today!
He looks a little young for those girls
Today's can is not that different from this 1930s one
This product lasted!
Propaganda ad to get everyone to do their part in World War 2 effort! Kerry Drake comic strip debuted in newspapers on Monday, October 4, 1943. In lower left, see signature of New York City Mayor F-LaGuardia
Could they have called them Krispy Krackers?
Five cents a cake!
Patriotism mixed with product promotion
Still looks good today
Notice the phone number beginning with Plaza (PL-3-2700)
Age knows best!
Standard Oil doesn't exist today
Some companies have staying power
Probably during World War 2 (No shorts or turned-around hats)
Most of the bridge and tunnel tolls are 25¢ or 10¢
Sounds nice
Bromides are tranquilizers that were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975
The ad seeks to make people feel comfortable with the new idea of a large suspension bridge
May still be in business at a different location
Notice the names of the warships over the names of the nearest subway station
Now that's a good price! There is still a wine company by that name
WNYC when radio was king
WNYC today
Classic subway ad; there used to be gum dispensing machines in the subway
Lemon juice still recommended today after 70 years
Subway Museum is located in Downtown Brooklyn at the above intersection
Three landmarks to help you find the museum
Landmark 1: Look for the Transit Authority building across the street from the museum
Landmark 2: Two blocks away is the Borough Hall building
Landmark 3: Back entrance to Borough Hall
Arrow points to New York Transit Museum (Subway Museum) at Schermerhorn Street & Boerum Place
See Hoyt & Schermerorn station lower right (A, C, G trains); see Borough Hall station just above (2 , 3, 4, 5 trains); see Court Street station above and to the left (R, W trains)
The New York Subway Museum is in an old subway station (actually it's called the Transit Museum)
How to get to the Transit Museum (Subway Museum) of New York located in Downtown Brooklyn
You pay to enter at a vintage change booth; original fare on subway was 5¢, which lasted from 1904 to almost 1950
An "iron maiden" with coin slot, used to collect fares at unstaffed entrances; they were placed between floor-to-ceiling see-through gate barriers and were the only way to get to the trains; alongside them were similarly secure high-exit turnstiles that rotate outward as station exits
Vintage New York subway map showing only "BMT" or Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company, current lines J through Z. There also were "IRT" or Interborough Rapid Transit Company, current lines 1-7. Later came the "IND" or Independent City-Owned Subway System, current lines A through G. Today these lines have been merged into one system. But because of recent line shiftings the N,Q R lines, which originally ran on BMT tracks, now run on what in the past were IND tracks
Propaganda ad to get everyone to do their part in World War 2 effort! Kerry Drake comic strip debuted in newspapers on Monday, October 4, 1943. In lower left, see signature of New York City Mayor F-LaGuardia
Landmark 1: Look for the Transit Authority building across the street from the museumLandmark 2: Two blocks away is the Borough Hall buildingLandmark 3: Back entrance to Borough HallArrow points to New York Transit Museum (Subway Museum) at Schermerhorn Street & Boerum Place
See Hoyt & Schermerorn station lower right (A, C, G trains); see Borough Hall station just above (2 , 3, 4, 5 trains); see Court Street station above and to the left (R, W trains)