This station was opened on May 30, 1893 as part of the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad's four stop extension of the Lexington Avenue Line to Cypress Hills. The original Cypress Hills station had two tracks and one island platform and was located along Crescent Street, reaching the cemetery. This station was the terminal for both the Jamaica Line and the BMT Lexington Avenue Line when it opened. It formerly had an island platform and stub-end located directly along Crescent Street just south of Jamaica Avenue that can still be seen approaching the cemetery east of the station. The rebuilt station was constructed under the Dual Contracts and was opened on May 28, 1917. The rebuilt station has two tracks and two side platforms. The removal of the island platform resulted in a space between the tracks. This space would allow for an express third track, but one was never built. Lexington Avenue Line service terminated in October 1950, but Jamaica Line trains continued to serve the station.
Station layout
This is the northernmost station in Brooklyn on the BMT Jamaica Line, since the next stop,, is in Queens. Both platforms have beige windscreens and green canopies with brown roofs that run along the entire length. Just west of this station are two sharp curves that trains must navigate at less than. For this reason, a train must take more time to transverse this section than other sections of the line. The 1990 artwork here is called Five Points of Observation, by Kathleen McCarthy. It affords a view of the street from the platforms and resembles a face when seen from the street. This artwork is also located in four other stations on the Jamaica Line.
Exits
The station's main entrance is at the south end. A single staircase from each platform leads to an elevated station house beneath the tracks. Inside are three turnstiles and a token booth. Outside of fare control, two street stairs lead to the corners of Hemlock and Crescent Streets. On the north end of each platform, a single staircase leads to a landing outside of a now closed station house. On the Queens-bound platform, a single exit-only turnstile provides exit from the system and a street stair perpendicular to the line leads to Autumn Avenue, which ends at Jamaica Avenue. The exit on the Manhattan-bound platform was closed, and the street stair was removed.
