Early history

The 1913 Dual Contracts called for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) to build new lines in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BRT lines compared to Brooklyn and the Bronx, since the city's Public Service Commission (PSC) wanted to alleviate subway crowding in the other two boroughs first before building in Queens, which was relatively undeveloped. The IRT Flushing Line was to be one of two Dual Contracts lines in the borough, along with the Astoria Line; it would connect Flushing and Long Island City, two of Queens' oldest settlements, to Manhattan via the Steinway Tunnel. When the majority of the line was built in the early 1910s, most of the route went through undeveloped land, and Roosevelt Avenue had not been constructed.^[5]: 47 Community leaders advocated for more Dual Contracts lines to be built in Queens to allow development there.^[6] The Flushing Line was opened from Queensboro Plaza to Alburtis Avenue (now 103rd Street–Corona Plaza) on April 21, 1917, with a local station at 90th Street.^[7]

Later years

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[8][9] The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[10] The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the 7.^[11] On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT operation of the Flushing Line ended, and the line became the responsibility of the IRT.^[12] After the end of BMT/IRT dual service, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars beforehand.^[13][14] The platforms at the station were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate 11-car trains.^[15] However, nine-car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars.^[16] With the opening of the 1964 New York World's Fair, trains were lengthened to eleven cars.^[17][18]

On February 2, 2019, a fatal gang shooting occurred at the station, carried out by an alleged MS-13 or SUR 13 member who shot another person of rival 18th Street gang.^[19][20]

Exits

This station has one elevated station house below the center of the platforms and tracks. The north side has two staircases going down to either northern corners of 90th Street and Roosevelt Avenue while the south side has one staircase going down to the triangle formed by Roosevelt Avenue, Elmhurst Avenue, and Case Street.^[3]

Inside the station house is a token booth in the center.^[25] On the south (geographical west) side is a turnstile bank that leads to a waiting area/crossover and one staircase going up to each platform.^[26] On the north (geographical east) side, each side has a bank of two turnstiles and one staircase going up to the platform.^[27]