the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway. The tunnel leading to what would become the 191st Street station was built as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from a point north of 182nd Street to Hillside Avenue. Work on this section was conducted by L. B. McCabe & Brother, who started building the tunnel segment on March 27, 1901. The 168th Street, 181st Street, and 191st Street stations were built as part of the Washington Heights Mine Tunnel (also known as the Fort George Tunnel), which stretches for over . The tunnel was dug through the hard rock under Washington Heights, with work proceeding from either end as well as from construction shafts at 168th and 181st Streets. Station The West Side Branch was extended northward from 157th Street to a temporary terminus at 221st Street and Broadway on March 12, 1906. There was no station at 191st Street. With the construction of the line, the population in Washington Heights grew rapidly. It was determined that a station should be built at 191st Street to bridge the gap between the 181st Street and Dyckman Street stations, which had become overcrowded. A station had not been deemed necessary as this area of Manhattan was less densely populated, and it was thought that there was no need to have stations as close together as they were downtown. The opening of the station was expected to spur development in the Fort George area. Its original sponsor was David Stewart. He and other property owners had pushed for the station's construction seeking better accessibility to their land. Following the announcement of the station's construction, and before it began, interest in nearby real estate, having been nonexistent in the previous two years, increased. Construction of the station began on July 20, 1909. Work on new shafts began on August 18, 1909, after legal and engineering difficulties were straightened out in the previous months. Preliminary work involved the clearing of a site in a vacant lot south of 191st Street on the west side of St. Nicholas Avenue for a shaft deep. More than of rock was blasted and removed from the shaft. It was designed to accommodate four elevators and a steel emergency staircase from the surface to