The station was built as part of the Chrystie Street Connection between the Sixth Avenue Line and the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. The Chrystie Street Connection was first proposed in 1947 as the southern end of the Second Avenue Subway (SAS), which would feed into the two bridges, allowing Sixth Avenue Line trains to access the BMT Jamaica Line, BMT Fourth Avenue Line and the BMT Brighton Line in Brooklyn. Construction started in 1962, and the first part of the connection, including this station, opened on November 26, 1967, when the link between the Sixth Avenue Line and the Manhattan Bridge north tracks opened. The connection was fully opened on July 1, 1968, with the opening of the 57th Street station and the opening of the connection between the Sixth Avenue Line and the Williamsburg Bridge. With the connection completed, the most significant service changes ever carried out in the subway's history were introduced.