Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Beach 116th Street and Rockaway Park in Queens. It is served by the S and A.
The station was originally built as a Long Island Rail Road station on the Rockaway Beach Branch called Rockaway Beach Station, and also contained a trolley stop for the Ocean Electric Railway, which eventually expanded their line further west to Belle Harbor and Neponsit. In 1899 the station was enlarged in order to accommodate the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company cars, and the name was changed to Rockaway Park Station. In the Spring of 1917 a second station was built as a replacement for the former station, which was razed. By October 3, 1955, all stations along the Rockaway Beach Branch were acquired by the New York City Transit Authority and closed in order to be converted into a subway station. Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street opened as a subway station on June 28, 1956, like most of the stations along the IND Rockaway Line. [1][2]Postcard, Ca 1917The station is at ground level. On either side of the station are tracks leading to the Rockaway Park Yard. The station house is also at ground level and is made of concrete with windows. It also houses a police facility and has plywood walls due to its expansion. An examination of the station house shows the former ticket windows, which were used when the line was part of the LIRR. Originally, terminal tracks with low-level platforms occupied the yard area during the LIRR years. The area of the current high-level platform was part of the LIRR depot yard. Since May 2007, the station building, platform and yard area have been undergoing renovation. The new station building, which is at least twice the size it was previously,[citation needed] was unveiled in early November 2007.