New Milford station

Last updated
New Milford
New Milford station under canopy, April 2010.jpg
The former New Milford station in 2010
General information
Owned by ConnDOT
Line(s) Housatonic Railroad
Tracks2
History
Opened1886;137 years ago (1886)
Closed1971;52 years ago (1971)
Proposed services
Preceding station MTA NYC logo.svg Metro-North Railroad Following station
Brookfield Danbury Branch Terminus
Former services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Brookfield Pittsfield Branch Gaylordsville
toward Pittsfield
New Milford Railroad Station
Location11 Railroad Street, New Milford, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°34′35″N73°24′46″W / 41.57639°N 73.41278°W / 41.57639; -73.41278
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1886;137 years ago (1886)
ArchitectHousatonic Railroad Company
Architectural styleVictorian
NRHP reference No. 84001062 [1]
Added to NRHPMarch 1, 1984

New Milford station is a former railroad station on Railroad Street in New Milford, Connecticut. Built in 1886 by the Housatonic Railroad Company, it cemented the town's importance as a regional tourist and business center. It served passenger service until 1971, and is now home to the Greater New Milford chamber of commerce. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. [1]

Contents

History

Early-20th-century postcard of the station New Milford station postcard.jpg
Early-20th-century postcard of the station

The station was built in 1886 by the Housatonic Railroad, then at the height of its operations. New Milford was also going through an economic boom, both as a center of regional tourism, and as the principal location for the processing and packing of tobacco in the Housatonic River valley. The railroad was later acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger service, particularly tourist-related summer business, continued into the 1950s, but declined thereafter, and was ended in 1970. The station building, closed in the late 1960s, [3] stood vacant for a time, but has since been rehabilitated and is now occupied by the New Milford chamber of commerce.

The station is located on the west side of New Milford's downtown business district, with Railroad Street to its east and the tracks of the Housatonic Railroad to the west. It is a long and narrow wood-frame building with a gable roof and clapboarded exterior. The street facade is regular, with windows and doors alternating, and a central projecting bay. Opposite this bay on the track side is a similar projection, which historically housed the ticketing office. The gabled roof has extended eaves, supported by large triangular brackets with decorative jigsawn woodwork on their interior. The track side eave is further extended to provide shelter over the passenger platform, with original cast iron supporting posts. [3]

Proposed service

The Metro-North Railroad, operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), has proposed the extension of the Danbury Branch to New Milford Station along with possible electrification. There is no set timeline yet.

In September 2020, due to an increase in demand for expansion of commuter rail service to Greater Danbury and Litchfield County, the United States Department of Transportation awarded a $400,000 grant to the Western Connecticut Council of Governments to study improvements along the Danbury Branch line and develop a plan for expanding service north. This would include the construction of a North Danbury, Brookfield and New Milford station. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Milford, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town, part of Greater Danbury as well as the New York Metropolitan Area has a population of 28,115 as of the 2020 census. New Milford lies in Western Connecticut, 14 miles (23 km) north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is the largest town in the state of Connecticut in terms of land area at nearly 63.7 mi² (164.9822 km2). The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP). The northern portion of the town is part of the region of western Connecticut, and the far eastern portions are part of the Litchfield Hills region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Station (New Haven)</span> Railroad station in Connecticut

Union Station, also known as New Haven Railroad Station or simply New Haven, is the main railroad passenger station in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the third such station in the city of New Haven, preceded by both an 1848 built station in a different location, and an 1879 built station near the current station's location. Designed by noted American architect Cass Gilbert, the present beaux-arts Union Station was completed and opened in 1920 after the previous Union Station was destroyed by fire. It served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for the next five decades, but fell into decline following World War II along with the United States railroad industry as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Haven Line</span> Metro-North Railroad line in New York and Connecticut

The New Haven Line is a 72.7 mi (117.0 km) commuter rail line operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. states of New York and Connecticut. Running from New Haven, Connecticut, to New York City, the New Haven Line joins the Harlem Line in Mount Vernon, New York, and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven Line carries 125,000 passengers every weekday and 39 million passengers a year. The busiest intermediate station is Stamford, with 8.4 million passengers, or 21% of the line's ridership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housatonic Railroad</span> Railroad operating in New England, U.S.

The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danbury Branch</span> Metro-North Railroad branch in Connecticut

The Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line in the U.S. state of Connecticut, running from downtown Norwalk north to Danbury. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. Until the early 1970s, passenger service continued north from Danbury to Canaan, Connecticut, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Metro-North took over operation of the line from Conrail in 1983, and the modern-day branch is mostly single-tracked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danbury and Norwalk Railroad</span> American railroad

The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Railroad in 1886. The right of way established by the D&N continues in operation and is now the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danbury Railway Museum</span> United States historic place

The Danbury Railway Museum is a railway museum housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the closure of the station by the Metro-North Railroad in favor of a new station nearby, and primarily focuses on the history of railroading in southern New England and neighboring New York. In addition to the former station building, the museum has a collection of heritage railcars in the neighboring rail yard it shares with Metro-North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannondale station</span> Metro-North Railroad station in Connecticut

Cannondale station is a commuter rail station on the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, located in the Cannondale neighborhood of Wilton, Connecticut. The station building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as part of the Cannondale Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housatonic Area Regional Transit</span> Transportation provider in Danbury, Connecticut

Housatonic Area Regional Transit, known popularly as HARTransit, is the provider of public transportation for Danbury, Connecticut and surrounding communities. HARTransit was founded in 1972 as the Danbury-Bethel Transit District by the two municipalities. The name was changed to Housatonic Area Regional Transit in 1979 after the addition of other municipal members. The agency receives funding from municipal contracts, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation. Prior to HARTransit's establishment, Danbury had gone without transit service since 1967 when the privately owned ABC Bus Company which had replaced the Candlewood Bus Company a few months before, ceased operations. The first local bus transit operator in the area, Danbury Power & Transportation Company, operated bus services in Danbury and Bethel from 1926 to 1965. HARTransit provides service to a greater number of towns than its predecessors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railroad Museum of New England</span>

The Railroad Museum of New England is a railroad museum based in Thomaston, Connecticut. Through its operating subsidiary known as the Naugatuck Railroad, the museum operates excursion and freight trains on the Torrington Secondary between Waterville and Torrington. The Railroad Museum of New England name and trademark was adopted in 1987, as a result of reassessing the Connecticut Valley Railroad Museum's goals and visions. Home to one of the largest collections of preserved historic railroad equipment in New England, RMNE and its predecessor organizations have been active since the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Danbury</span> Metropolitan area in Connecticut, United States

Greater Danbury, also known as the Housatonic Valley Region, is a region in the state of Connecticut centered on the city of Danbury. It consists of the city of Danbury and adjacent towns in the areas around the Housatonic River and the Still River. The area is also home to Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in the New York metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beacon Line</span> Metro-North Railroad line in New York

The Metro-North Railroad's Beacon Line is a non-revenue line connecting the railroad's three revenue lines east of the Hudson River. From west to east, the lines that connect are Hudson Line, Harlem Line, and the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. It was purchased by Metro-North in 1995 for $4.2 million from Maybrook Properties, a subsidiary of the Housatonic Railroad, to preserve it for future use, training, and equipment moves. Maybrook Properties purchased the line from Conrail after Conrail withdrew from the Danbury, Connecticut, freight market in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canaan Union Depot</span> United States historic place

The Canaan Union Depot, also known as the Union Depot, is located in Canaan Village, in the town of North Canaan, Connecticut, and is a former union station. It was built in 1872 at the junction of the Housatonic Railroad and the Connecticut Western Railroad which was acquired by the Central New England Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housatonic River Railroad Bridge</span> United States historic place

The Housatonic River Railroad Bridge is a historic bridge carrying Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line trackage across the lower Housatonic River in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The bridge is also used by Amtrak for its Northeast Corridor services. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, which also refers to the bridge as the Devon Bridge. It is also referred to as the Devon Railroad Bridge by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taylor Memorial Library</span> United States historic place

The Taylor Memorial Library, also known as Taylor Library or Old Library, is a historic former library building at 5 Broad Street in Milford, Connecticut. Built in 1894, it is a Richardsonian Romanesque building designed by Joseph W. Northrop. It follows, but departs from, H. H. Richardson's design of the Crane Memorial Library in Massachusetts. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It now houses the offices of the Milford Chamber of Commerce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Barrington station</span>

Great Barrington station is a former railroad station in Great Barrington, Massachusetts along the Housatonic Railroad Berkshire Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookfield station (Metro-North)</span> Metro-North Railroad station in Connecticut

Brookfield station is a proposed passenger rail station on the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line, to be located in Brookfield, Connecticut.

North Danbury station is a proposed commuter rail stop on the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, to be located in Danbury, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merwinsville Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Merwinsville Hotel is a historic hotel building and former railroad station at 1 Brown's Forge Road in the Gaylordsville village of New Milford, Connecticut. Built in 1842-43, it is one of the oldest hotels built specifically for a railroad stop in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The Berkshire was a New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad named train running from New York City's Grand Central Terminal to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was the longest-running north–south train in Litchfield Hills of western Connecticut and the Berkshires of Massachusetts. From New York City it followed the New Haven Line to South Norwalk, the Danbury Line to Danbury and the Berkshire Division to Pittsfield. It began in the 1940s and ran until 1968. The train was preceded by the Berkshire Express, of c.1938-c.1943. It terminated at Pittsfield Union Station until 1960, when the New Haven moved it to another station in the city.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "The Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce" . Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  3. 1 2 Alison Gilchrist (1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Housatonic Railroad Station". National Park Service. and Accompanying photos
  4. https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/09/17-six-rail-projects-among-58-receiving-build-grant-capital-funding Six rail projects among 58 receiving BUILD grant capital funding Another 10 projects with rail component get capital or planning funding September 17, 2020

Commons-logo.svg Media related to New Milford station at Wikimedia Commons