The station is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.

The Wall Street station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900.

The platforms contain exits to Broadway's intersections with Wall and Rector Streets, outside Trinity Church, and into the basements of several buildings.

The original station interior is a New York City designated landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[5]: 21  However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act.

[4]: 3  The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900,[6] in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.

On January 24, 1901, the Board adopted a route that would extend the subway from City Hall to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Flatbush Avenue terminal station (now known as Atlantic Terminal) in Brooklyn, via the Joralemon Street Tunnel under the East River.

[7]: 83–84 [8]: 260–261  Contract 2, which gave the IRT a 35-year lease,was executed between the commission and the Rapid Transit Construction Company on September 11, 1902.

To address concerns that leakage from the gas mains beneath the roadway and within the excavation would produce a devastating explosion, the contractor moved the pipes to above the street.

[8]: 261 [9] Furthermore, precautionary measures had to be undertaken during the construction of the tunnel in front of Trinity Church, adjacent to the Wall Street station.

The spire of the church rested upon a shallow masonry foundation built upon a deep layer of fine sand.

Accordingly, the 57-foot (17 m) tunnel nearest the spire's foundation was constructed in three sections, and steel channels were used as sheet piling around the subway excavation.

[10] The station's opening contributed to the growth of Wall Street, which had become the center of Manhattan's Financial District at the beginning of the 20th century.

[3]: 10 To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.

[13]: 168  As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains.

[13]: 168 [15] In 1910, the IRT reported that a passageway would be constructed to the basement of the planned Equitable Office Building, on the east side of Broadway, just north of the Wall Street station.

[24][25] The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced plans in 1956 to add fluorescent lights above the edges of the station's platforms.

[28] In April 1960, work began on a $3,509,000 project (equivalent to $36.1 million in 2023) to lengthen platforms at seven of these stations to accommodate ten-car trains.

[4][32] During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station was renovated; much of the original wall surface on the northbound platform was covered by glossy dark blue tiles about 0.5 inches (13 mm) thick.

[3]: 6 [33] The Wall Street station's renovation was the first of six projects under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s Adopt-a-Station program.

In the original portion of the station, each pilaster is topped by blue-and-green tile plaques, which contain the letter "W" surrounded by a Greek key carving.

[3]: 5 [44]: 10 On the southbound platform is a disused oak token booth, the last of its kind in the New York City Subway system, which is just south of the stairs leading to Wall Street.

[46][3]: 4–5  These street staircases contain relatively simple, modern steel railings like those seen at most New York City Subway stations.

[3]: 7  The north end of the platform leads to a tunnel which connects on the left to a crossunder, and on the right to a passageway exiting fare control.