A Look Back: Inside the City Hall Subway Station Where Mayor Mamdani Was Sworn In

By Y.M. Lowy

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, was sworn into office just after midnight on January 1, 2026, in a private ceremony held in the historic City Hall subway station. The location was chosen for its symbolic connection to the city’s roots. 

The City Hall station, also known as the City Hall Loop, sits beneath City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. It was built as the southern terminal of New York’s first subway line and opened on October 27, 1904, making it one of the original 28 stations of the New York City subway.  

At the time, the subway was a bold new system meant to carry passengers across the growing city. When it opened, trains traveled from the City Hall station up into Manhattan and beyond, marking a major advancement in how New Yorkers got around.  

The station was beautifully designed, with vaulted tile ceilings, brass light fixtures, and skylights that once looked up into the park above. For decades it served riders, but as subway cars became longer to accommodate rising ridership, the curved platforms at City Hall could no longer safely handle the trains. Because modern trains required longer, straight platforms, the station was closed on December 31, 1945.  

For nearly 80 years after its closure, the station remained unused for regular service. It became a piece of subway history, occasionally opened for special tours and events and recognized as a landmark of early New York transit design.  

Mayor Mamdani’s choice to be sworn in there connected that history to a new chapter in city leadership. 

photos: NY Transit Museum