The East Broadway station was built for the Independent Subway System (IND)'s Sixth Avenue Line and opened on January 1, 1936. It contains one island platform and two tracks. The station was initially intended as an interchange station with the Worth Street Line underneath East Broadway, to be built as part of the IND Second System, although the other line was not completed. As a result, the station contains several mezzanines, one of which was originally intended as the platform level of the Worth Street Line. The station has exits to Rutgers Street's intersections with East Broadway and with Madison Street.