The name of the station was originally intended to be "Institute Park". However, the IRT received a petition from Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences to change the name of the station to "Brooklyn Museum" to provide an adequate guide for the station's location. As a result, an order was issued on March 3, 1920, changing the name of the station to "Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum". New signs and tiles had to be installed while the station finish work was already underway. The Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza, and Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum stations opened on October 9, 1920. Service on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line had been extended from Atlantic Avenue to Utica Avenue in August 1920, but the three stations were not ready to open with the rest of the line. This extension was part of an expansion of the subway system known as the Dual Contracts which built not only IRT lines in Brooklyn but also those for the BMT. During the 1964–1965 fiscal year, the platforms at Eastern Parkway, along with those at four other stations on the Eastern Parkway Line, were lengthened to 525 feet to accommodate a ten-car train of 51-foot IRT cars. In 2002, it was announced that Eastern Parkway would be one of ten subway stations citywide to receive renovations. As part of the 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program, elevators will be added to the platforms and street, which would make the station fully compliant with accessibility guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. A contract for the elevators' construction was awarded in August 2018, and substantial completion is projected for October 2020.
Station layout
There are two local tracks with two side platforms. The express tracks pass underneath the station and are not visible from the platforms. A large mosaic displays Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Museum. In the eastern mezzanine are architectural ornaments from the Brooklyn Museum collection, installed during the 2003 renovation of the station. The platforms and the eastern mezzanine formerly displayed abstract art paintings created in 1991 by artist Pat Steir, collectively called the Brueghel Series. There is an emergency exit from the express level at the south end of each platform. There is a closed western mezzanine blocked by a tiled wall and a door; the entrances to this mezzanine have been covered with metal hatches on street level.
Exits
The only two exits to this station are from the east mezzanine:
Eastern Parkway, south side in front of Brooklyn Museum
Eastern Parkway, north side mall across the street from Brooklyn Museum
