The station was opened in November 1955 by the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) as part of a larger project to move portions of the elevated Market Street Line and surface trolleys underground.
The original project to bury the elevated tracks between 23rd to 46th streets was announced by the PTC's predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in the 1920s, but was delayed due to the Great Depression and World War II.
The PTC's revised project also included a new tunnel for trolleys underneath the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, continuing from the original western portal at 23rd and Market streets to new portals at 36th and Ludlow streets and 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue.

The station's platforms are offset because during construction, the above intersection was a five-way junction between Spruce Street, Woodland Avenue, and South 37th Street.
The latter two streets were later converted to pedestrian walkways.

In October 2006, Penn's class of 1956 donated a new covered headhouse for the eastbound platform entrance.
The entrance is a replica of the Peter Witt trolley manufactured by J. G. Brill Company from 1923–26 for Philadelphia's trolley system.
The replica was built by the Gomaco Trolley Company.
The station was opened in November 1955 by the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) as part of a larger project to move portions of the elevated Market Street Line and surface trolleys underground. The original project to bury the elevated tracks between 23rd to 46th streets was announced by the PTC's predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in the 1920s, but was delayed due to the Great Depression and World War II. The PTC's revised project also included a new tunnel for trolleys underneath the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, continuing from the original western portal at 23rd and Market streets to new portals at 36th and Ludlow streets and 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue.
The station's platforms are offset because during construction, the above intersection was a five-way junction between Spruce Street, Woodland Avenue, and South 37th Street. The latter two streets were later converted to pedestrian walkways.
In October 2006, Penn's class of 1956 donated a new covered headhouse for the eastbound platform entrance. The entrance is a replica of the Peter Witt trolley manufactured by J. G. Brill Company from 1923–26 for Philadelphia's trolley system. The replica was built by the Gomaco Trolley Company.
37th Street station (SEPTA)