New Milford | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Owned by | ConnDOT | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Housatonic Railroad | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | 1886 | ||||||||||
Closed | 1971 | ||||||||||
Proposed services | |||||||||||
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Former services | |||||||||||
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New Milford Railroad Station | |||||||||||
Location | 11 Railroad Street, New Milford, Connecticut | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 41°34′35″N73°24′46″W / 41.57639°N 73.41278°W | ||||||||||
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) | ||||||||||
Built | 1886 | ||||||||||
Architect | Housatonic Railroad Company | ||||||||||
Architectural style | Victorian | ||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 84001062 [1] | ||||||||||
Added to NRHP | March 1, 1984 | ||||||||||
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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]
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]
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]
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 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).
New Haven Union Station 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.
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.
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.
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.
The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1836 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.
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.
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.
The Oyster Bay Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch splits from the Main Line just east of Mineola station, and runs north and east to Oyster Bay. The branch is electrified between East Williston and Mineola. The branch opened in segments between 1865 and 1889.
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.
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.
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.
The Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad was a short independent railroad in western Connecticut that was chartered as the Shepaug Valley Railroad in 1868 and operated from 1872 to 1891 when it was taken over by the Housatonic Railroad. In 1898, the Housatonic operation was assumed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH). As the Litchfield Division of the NH, the line was operated until abandonment in 1948. Much of the line remains as a rail trail.
The Housatonic Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, chartered in 1836. Opened between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and New Milford, Connecticut, in 1840, it was completed to a connection with the Western Railroad in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1842. Branches were later built to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Danbury, Connecticut, and Derby, Connecticut, the latter as part of the Housatonic Railroad's purchase of the New Haven and Derby Railroad in 1887.
Great Barrington station is a former railroad station in Great Barrington, Massachusetts along the Housatonic Railroad Berkshire Line.
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.
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.
Media related to New Milford station at Wikimedia Commons