City Hall station, which opened in 1904, has been out of use since 1945, but riders can still make the journey to this long-forgotten subway stop - if they know how.  

John-Paul Palescandolo was kind enough to take some pictures and tell curious folks how to visit.

city hall station track level
City Hall station, the forgotten stop on the New York subway.  Credit: John-Paul Palescandolo&Eric Kazmirek

So why did they stop using it? Myles Kornblatt at Motobullet.com says rapid growth of the Interborough Rapid Transit (that's a subway to you and me) meant longer trains but new ones had doors in the center of each car, like we expect now. Since City Hall was a curved station this created a dangerous gap between the exit point on the train and the platform.

City government was doing some restoration work to turn it into a transit museum but the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 put any plans like that on hold.

Want to visit?  You now can.  The 6 train used to make passengers get off at the Brooklyn Bridge stop but now you can stay on the train and view the City Hall station in its latest incarnation as a turnaround.