The subway's kiosks referenced the Budapest subway which had opened in 1896. Its "kushks" were an adaptation of Turkish summer pavilions.

The Hecla iron works built 137 kiosks for the NY subway, but in time they were all allowed to wither and decay and vanish. The last of the original kiosks was removed in 1967. However, a refurbished kiosk has been erected at City Hall.

Round, blue and white globes identified the kiosks of IRT stations. The BMT had ornate, fifty pound hexagons of green and white glass.

Initially 48 stations were built and 15 of these were above ground or partially above ground. They were typically 200 to 350 feet long and 15 feet wide and had bright yellow benches. According to the original contract the walls were to display no advertising. However, the contract Belmont took over from McDonald stipulated advertising privileges as part of the deal.

Each of the original IRT stations had its own color scheme. That was meant to assist people who had not caught a sign, or who could not read. The London Underground, used picture signs for that purpose.

The fanciest of all the stations was the City Hall stop. It is depicted to the left and was quite atypical. With its rhythmic terra cotta arches it was unique and very costly. The firm of Heins and LaFarge, the same people who built the arches of the Cathedral of John the Divine, created it. Rafael Guastavino who did the interior of Grand Central's Oyster Bar, was the designer.

City Hall station was restored in the 1990s at a cost of $3.5 million, including a $750,000 federal grant. But it remains closed to the public. It is now mainly used for turning trains around.

While the other IRT stations were spartan they did have some ornamental molding and glazed tiles and each had a small panel with a picture. It usually identified with the station's neighborhood. Thus Astor Place shows a Beaver in honor of Jacob Astor and the fur trade. At Fulton Street a panel depicted the Clermont steam boat. Colum-bus Circle identifies with the Santa Maria. At 116th St. Columbia University's seal is displayed.

Presently there are 469 station served by 1950 stairways. An additional 85 entrances lead in from private buildings. There are 277 underground stations, 153 are elevated. The rest are embankment and open cut stations.

Nightly 70 to 90 tons of garbage are collected and hauled out of the subway. A busy station like Grand Central contributes 6,000 pounds daily.

There were 172 newsstands in 1983. In 1991 only 52 were operating.

The typical station of 1904, as still today, was rectangular and evocative of an underpass. Most were built as shallow excavations, very utilitarian, with no arches or special masonry. The design was that of the system's chief engineer, William Barclay Parsons. He sought to channel in daylight  through deadlights in the sidewalk and have the natural light reflect off the station's white tiles. The Worth Street stop, though closed in 1962, is a good example.

The subway has 932 toilet facilities. By 1981 only 100 were still open. None are open to the public at present.

Originally riders bought tickets which were sur-rendered at an entrance gate to ticket choppers. In 1921, as an economy measure, the pasteboard tickets were abandoned. Turnstiles, which turned upon receiving a nickel, replaced them, and hundreds of ticket collectors were retired. By 1970 there were 3,047 turnstiles in operation.

In 1904 a unique station was at 11 Ave. and West 58th street. It housed the turbines which generated the current that powered the IRT.

The local stations initially were built for 3 car trains and the express stops for 5 to 8 car trains. These were soon found to be too short and as they were lengthened the station  had to be enlarged as well.

In the excavation of the first route, bones from huge mastodons were unearthed around the Dyckman Street Station. The hull of The Tiger, a Dutch merchant ship that sank in 1613 after catching fire, was found under the Battery. A line of hollowed out pine logs were unearthed underneath Elm Street. They were part of an early water system attributed to Aaron Burr.

One of the strangest station belonged to the BMT. It was of wood, stood in Canarsie Brooklyn and had a grade crossing. When it was replaced in 1973 a $400,000 overpass took the job of the four towerman who had operated the gate.

The original contract allotted $2.7 million for the construction of all the line's stations. Of this $500,000 was set aside for decor. That was required by the building contract which stipulated that "The railway and equipment constitute a great public work. All parts of the subway where exposed to public sight shall therefore be designed with a view to the beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency.

On the IND there was an attempt made to key the stations. The idea was to give each station name mosaics of different tiles to assist illiterate passengers in recognizing their station.

The turnstile to the left  resemble those currently in use in NY. Instead of a coin or token they accept a fare card that is slid through a grove. If the card is paid up the turnstile turns.

On the day the subway opened, Oct 27, 1904, there was already, on track level a "Subway Tavern" at Bleeker Street. Its patrons cheered as the first train rolled past.

Since 1978 every station has had one or more sealed booths. From within this 6 by 12 feet of air-conditioned space a clerk sells tokens and fare cards, protected by five layers of bullet resistant glass and an automatic halon fire extinguisher.

The Grand Central cross town shuttle opened August 1918. The station's network of corridors proved so confusing that the milling crowds lost its way and panicked. The result was a mob of people blindly fighting to get out, gasping for air, mauling one another. It was a riot and the shuttle was shut down until colored guide lines, like those that had guided  Theseus out of the Minotaur's maze, lined the corridor.

Bleeker Street, to the left, is something of an oddity among the original IRT stations, as it retains all eight of its deep blue name panels, one of which is shown in the photograph. Much of the original decor of this station has been preserved. There is even an Interborough Rapid Transit sign on one of the columns between the tracks warning passengers not to cross the tracks.  Vault lighting still helps illuminate the interior, as at Spring Street. The terra cotta "B" along the cornice on the walls is similar to that at Worth, Canal and Spring Streets.

At Times Square which originally was called Longacre Square and was a local stop, the tunnel was built below the New York Times' building, but above its second basement which contained the newspaper's printing plant. The frame columns of the building pass through the station.

The busiest station, according to Stan Fisher's book, The Subway, is Times Square with around 33.4 million fares in 1994. Grand Central was in second place with 30 million fares and 34th Street, Herald Square placed with 22 million.