[4] 61st Street–Woodside opened on April 21, 1917 as Woodside, as part of an extension of the IRT Flushing Line to Alburtis Avenue (now 103rd Street–Corona Plaza).

On February 29, 1928, five petitions signed with 600 names were sent to the New York State Transit Commission (NYSTC), requesting that an escalator be constructed at the station to the southeastern corner of 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

On July 25, the NYSTC ordered the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) to install a double-width escalator from the mezzanine to that corner, similar to one at the Third Avenue entrance at Grand Central station on the same line.

[21] As part of the 2015–2019 Capital Program, the MTA announced plans to renovate the 52nd, 61st, 69th, 82nd, 103rd and 111th Streets stations, a project that had been delayed for several years.

[22] Work on the 61st Street station included ADA upgrades; track, staircase, and platform replacement; and structural and waterproofing improvements.

Throughout construction, trains in both directions will continue to stop at the station, and express service would only run between 74th Street - Broadway and Mets - Willets Point.

[24][25] A separate contract was awarded to Skanska-Railroad JV to further improve structural conditions in the station; work began in early 2023.

[5]: 549 Artwork includes John Cavanagh's Commuting/Community (1986), located near the stairway down to LIRR Track 4, and Dimitri Gerakaris's Woodside Continuum (1999), which forms part of the steel-grating fare-control separation.