The initial segment of the IRT White Plains Road Line opened on November 26, 1904 between 180th Street–Bronx Park and Jackson Avenue. The Intervale Avenue station opened on April 30, 1910 as an infill station on the White Plains Road Line, and was the first station in the Bronx with escalators. It was built at the cost of $100,000, which was paid with private capital. The station was originally served by trains from the IRT Second Avenue Line and the IRT Third Avenue Line, both now demolished. In addition, IRT Lenox Avenue Line trains also stopped at this station. The Bergen Avenue cutoff, which allowed Third Avenue trains to access the White Plains Road Line, was abandoned on November 5, 1946, as part of the gradual curtailment of elevated service on the IRT Third Avenue Line. On June 13, 1949, the platform extensions at this station, as well as those on White Plains Road Line stations between Jackson Avenue and 177th Street, opened. The platforms were lengthened to to allow full ten-car express trains to open their doors. Previously the stations could only accommodate six-car local trains.
Station house arson
On March 15, 1989, three men set the wooden station house on fire after a failed attempt to rob the token booth. The clerk was not seriously injured, while the suspects fled and were never identified. After the incident, New York City Transit considered closing this station permanently due to its close proximity to Prospect Avenue and Simpson Street. However, a community uproar led to the scrapping of the plans. The station was rebuilt with steel canopies and windscreens and a concrete station house with glass block windows and embossed leather-looking walls. Renovations took two and a half years. Artwork called El 2/El 5 by Michael Kelly Williams was installed in the mezzanine and features two mosaic murals depicting underground and elevated tracks. The renovated station reopened on April 21, 1992 after 20 months of work was completed.
Station layout
This elevated station has three tracks and two side platforms. The center express track is used by the 5 train during rush hours in the peak direction. Both platforms have beige windscreens that run along the entire length and brown canopies with green frames and support columns in the center.
Exits
The station's only entrance is an elevated station house beneath the tracks. Inside fare control, it has two staircases to the center of each platform and a waiting area that allows a free transfer between directions. Outside fare control, there is a turnstile bank, token booth, one staircase going down to the southeast corner of Intervale and Westchester Avenues, and one staircase and one enclosed escalator going down to the northeast corner.
