The East Broadway station was built for the Independent Subway System (IND)'s Sixth Avenue Line and opened on January 1, 1936.

As a result, the station contains several mezzanines, one of which was originally intended as the platform level of the Worth Street Line.

New York City mayor John Francis Hylan's original plans for the Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over 100 miles (160 km) of new lines and taking over nearly 100 miles (160 km) of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), the two major subway operators of the time.

[12] In addition to a new exit, the developers planned to make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with the installation of elevators.

[13] The plan was approved that December,[14] but the developments were blocked by a New York Supreme Court judge in February 2020, making the proposed improvements unlikely to occur.

[16][17] As part of the work, the East Broadway station's structural system was repaired and painted, while the platform edges, wall tiles, and stairs were replaced.

The trackside walls showed a considerable pattern of aging and occasional water damage prior to the station's renovation, which replaced all the tiles and remained mostly faithful to the original design.

The 1992 artwork at this station is called Displacing Details by Noel Copeland, with assistance by students from the Henry Street Settlement.

The north half of the open intermediate level mezzanine was designed to eventually become a station of the unbuilt IND Worth Street Line.

In this closed space, the platform floor drops to the level of the intended westbound trackway for the unbuilt line.