The station opened on February 25, 1908, as part of the H&M extension between New Jersey and 33rd Street. It received a renovation in 1986, during which the station was closed completely for a period of time. The station has long seen heavy traffic not only from passengers going to Jersey City and Hoboken, but also by Manhattan residents traveling from Greenwich Village to Midtown. The nearest subway station, Christopher Street-Sheridan Square, is a block away. The already busy station became even more so after the September 11, 2001 attacks resulted in the destruction of the vital World Trade Center PATH station. With Christopher Street now the closest PATH station to New Jersey, it experienced serious overcrowding. The station became so busy that the Port Authority had to make it an exit-only station during the morning rush hour. The Port Authority planned to build a second entrance at Christopher and Bedford Street, to ease overcrowding at the station, but local opposition effectively killed the project. Residents were concerned that the project would endanger the surrounding neighborhood's fragile historic buildings and disrupt business and traffic in the Village. The Port Authority continues to look into the possibility of building a second entrance to service the 9th Street station, which is also opposed by some local residents. The effects of September 11 did not end quickly. In 2002, Christopher Street station was used by an average of 7,400 people per day, or about 2.701 million per year. This was more than twice as many as the 1.314 million passengers that used the station during 2001.
Station layout
The station entrance is in its own free-standing building, with a restored marquee displaying the original "Hudson Tunnels" name adorning the entranceway. Passengers descend a narrow stairway with a number of curves before arriving at the southwest end of the narrow center island platform. Biff Elrod's mural "Ascent-Descent" originally painted on site in August 1986 as a temporary installation for the Public Art Fund, and later purchased by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was restored in 1999.
