This station was constructed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company as part of the Dual Contracts and opened in 1918.

A public art display of stained glass called Children at Play was also installed.

As a rural cemetery, at the time of its opening, it was as much a park as a burial ground, a popular place to visit for strolls and picnics.

[5] Those residents had regularly been lobbying for a subway connection, which was constructed the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was expanded via the Dual Contracts.

As part of Contract 3, the IRT agreed to build an elevated line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx.

[11] Woodlawn station opened on April 15, 1918 as part of the final extension of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line from Kingsbridge Road.

[13][14] The construction of the line encouraged development along Jerome Avenue, and made surrounding areas desirable places for commuters to live, leading to their growth.

Woodlawn Road was renamed years ago, but the old name persists to this day on some signs.

McNalley, in his 50s, had been reported as having difficulties as the train passed the Burnside Avenue station, six stops south.

The train continued north; transit police were notified of the situation at Fordham Road.

Transit police officers claimed that their calls to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority command center urging the train to be stopped were ignored.

Their union president called for police to be given the authority to order a train stopped in an emergency.

Woodlawn Cemetery is on the east side of the street, and its main entrance and gatehouse are a block to the north of the station.

The Woodlawn station is built of steel frame faced in ornamental concrete, with a large headhouse at the northern end.

[5] The concrete surface of the platforms is smooth, in contrast to the rough bush-hammered finish preferred elsewhere on the IRT Dual System stations.

They are covered in steel frame canopies with truss supports and wooden-slat gabled roofs and lit by fluorescent fixtures.

At the top, below the gently pitched gabled roof in standing-seam metal, is a polychrome mosaic frieze above three recessed panels.

Traffic lights are mounted on the west side and western portion of the central section below window level.