This station opened just after midnight on November 23, 1904, as part of the IRT's original system. It was completed along with the rest of the IRTLenox Avenue Line, then known as the East Side Subway or East Side Branch, south of 145th Street. Starting on March 2, 1998, the tunnel was reconstructed along with the cracked tunnel floor. This was done to correct a major water problem that had existed for many years due to the presence of the Harlem Creek and other underground streams, which caused extensive flooding, water damage, and seepage problems that occasionally contributed to severe service disruptions. The project cost $82 million and was finished on October 12, 1998. During the reconstruction, many trains were rerouted via the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, while the trains were rerouted to the 137th Street–City College station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Each of the two Lenox Avenue Line tracks were alternately taken out of service and supplemental shuttle bus service connecting to other lines in the area were provided for much of this time.
2020 fire
On March 27, 2020, a northbound 2 train caught fire as it entered the Central Park North–110th Street station, killing the operator, injuring at least 16 others, and damaging the station. The incident was investigated as a possible arson, as several other fires had been observed in nearby stations.
Station layout
This underground station is the southernmost station on the Lenox Avenue Line. South of this station, the line turns southwest under the Great Hill and North Woods of Central Park, then west under 104th Street, and then south once again at Broadway, merging with the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to become the express tracks of that line. This has two tracks and an island platform. The platform is wider at its south end than at its north, where it was extended in the 1950s and the tracks curve. Both track walls have some of the original, hanging mosaic designs and the platform has a line of red circular columns in the middle. The station's artwork, installed during a 1998 renovation, is called Message from Malcolm by Maren Hassinger. It consists of mosaic panels on the platform and main fare control area's street stairs that depict quotes and writings by Malcolm X written in script and surrounded by mosaic borders.
Exits
This station has two fare control areas, both of which are on platform level:
The full-time one is at the south end and has a bank of four turnstiles, token booth, and double-wide staircase going up to the northwest corner of Central Park North and Malcolm X Boulevard.
A full height turnstileat the center of the platform leads to a staircase that goes up to the northwest corner of West 111th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.
