Named after 181st Street; also known as 181st Street–Fort Washington Avenue.
The station lies beneath Fort Washington Avenue, with an exit across from Bennett Park, the site of Fort Washington. The fort was built in 1776, during George Washington’s defence of New York. After British and Hessian troops captured it on 16 November 1776, it was renamed Fort Knyphausen, after the Hessian general Wilhelm von Knyphausen, who played a major part in the victory.