36th Avenue was once Washington Avenue, a name the station long kept.
Before Queens was given numbered streets, 36th Avenue was Washington Avenue, and the station was long known as 36th Avenue–Washington Avenue. New York City introduced the Queens numbering system around 1915 and worked it into most neighbourhoods during the 1920s, to end the confusion of avenues in different neighbourhoods sharing a name. The old name has since been dropped from the signs.