On 12 April 1869, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened tracks through Earl's Court as part of a south-westward extension from its station at Gloucester Road to West Brompton where the DR opened an interchange with the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the West London Line). At its opening, the extension had no intermediate station. The 1870s was a busy decade for the DR. On 3 July 1871 the DR opened a northward link from the West Brompton branch which connected to the Inner Circle (now the Circle line) south of High Street Kensington. Shortly afterwards, on 30 October 1871, the DR opened its first station at Earl's Court. The original station was on the east side of Earls Court Road rather than the west. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch west of Earl's Court station to the WLEJR which it connected to at Addison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the "Outer Circle" service began running over the DR's tracks.
This is the station for the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Since 1951, the station name has been spelt with an apostrophe on the tube map although the name of the local area is generally spelt without. Prior to 1951 tube and rail maps generally show the station name without the apostrophe and on the station buildings the name has variously appeared with and without the apostrophe. The station is 'Grade II' listed as being of architectural and historical interest. At the 2009 National Railway Heritage Awards the reconstruction of the station's train shed roof gained a certificate of merit for the quality of the work carried out. The station boasts wi-fi, payphones, lifts, escalators, boarding ramps, cash machines, Euro cash machines and a bridge.
Connections: Picadilly Line. London Buses routes 74, 328, 430, C1 and C3 and night routes N31, N74 and N97 serve the station.
