Track 16 - CT Passenger Stations

MIDDLEFIELD. This stop was established in 1870 when the NHM&W opened. The siting of this station was somewhat controversial. The railroad commissioners [CRC18.1871.279] ruled for a location in the Falls District, near the house of Ira N. Johnson. Dissatisfaction with this result persisted until a depot was also established at MIDDLEFIELD CENTER, as many had argued for to begin with. If the enlarged freight platform in the lower photo is any indication, there was plenty of need for service here, both initially and in later years.

MIDDLEFIELD CENTER. This station was not built until 1873, according to the newspaper. Dissatisfaction with the MIDDLEFIELD station, which was to the south and "in the swamp," caused the townspeople to hold off endorsing $30,000 worth of the second mortgage bonds that the NHM&W needed to sell to finance the 1873 extension to Willimantic. The acquiescence of the railroad in building the center depot resulted in the needed endorsement. This was in addition to the $40,000 worth of stock the town had subscribed to. The $70,000 reportedly represented 7.5% of the town's total grand list of taxable properties. The newspaper said that work on the MIDDLEFIELD CENTER depot was "rapidly progressing" in September of 1873, with the expectation of a fine-looking building that would be a convenience for travelers and an improvement "to the appearance of that locality." [REFS: DC/07/16/1873/02; DC/07/31/1873/02; DC/09/09/1873/02; DC/09/10/1873/02]

MIDDLETOWN1 is seen at the indicator number '10' on the 1877 Bailey bird's-eye map on the upper left [click here]. The Middletown & Berlin RR opened in 1850 to a terminus on North Main St. and the Middletown Extension RR, also seen, brought the line downriver to the steamboat landing in 1859. Both roads were later leased to the Hartford and New Haven RR. In the lower left of the Bailey map, we can see the overpass for the Connecticut Valley RR, which opened in 1871. The large building on the left in the photo is the 1850 station. It was later used for freight and still later became a slaughterhouse [MM]. The red arrow on the 1859 MC map at lower left points to MIDDLETOWN1. The other rail line is the tentative right of way for the New York and Boston RR, the grading of which had begun as early as 1854. Proposed in the 1840s, the inheritor of the charter, the NHM&W, would not open until 1870. [REFS: CRC1.1854.12; HDC/11/16/1859/02; NHJC/12/08/1877/02]

MIDDLETOWN3. This building at the foot of Washington St. with the Greek Revival facade was the CV's first station in this city. A newspaper article in September, 1872 said this "dwelling house" had been obtained for use as a temporary depot and that citizens had signed a petition for a permanent one at the foot of William St. The captioning in the shot at lower left labels it as the 'New Custom House.' The American Sentinel newspaper reported in 1833 that the original U.S. Customs House for the Middletown district was to be built at the southwest corner of Parsonage and Main Sts. and the Bailey map still has it on Main St. at the corner of Court St. in 1877. If and when the building seen here served some customs function is therefore unclear. It was certainly more appropriately located, closer to the shipping activity at the steamboat dock. It is pictured below 'Cherry St.' on the shot from the 1915 Bailey and Hughes aero view map [click here], standing to the left of MIDDLETOWN5. The CV would use MIDDLETOWN3 until 1881 when MIDDLETOWN6 opened at the junction, though it is possible that passengers making boat connections were still brought here. The val photo at upper right is dated 5/23/1924 and shows this structure still as railroad property at that time. [REFS: AS/03/13/1833/03; DC/09/02/1863/02; DC/06/19/1867/02; MC/09/04/1872/02; C169]

MIDDLETOWN4. The 1877 map also shows this 'union station' at the junction, a small depot on the Air Line and a long passenger platform and canopy on the Valley line, probably in place by August 13, 1873 when the NHM&W opened to Willimantic. This became an important interchange point with the CV, which stopped here as well as at its 1871 station on Washington St. for passenger access to the steamboat dock. Note the turntable and interchange track shared by the two roads. The NYNH&H Berlin branch trains were still terminating at MIDDLETOWN1 on North Main St. at this time. The first railroad bridge across the Connecticut River, with its somewhat delicate looking superstructure, is seen in both images. [REFS: HDC/04/28/1873/04; DC/08/13/1873/02; CRC21.1874.191; HDC/07/08/1874/04]

MIDDLETOWN5. The 12/11/1924 valuation photo at upper left shows 'the old depot,' built in 1879 as still being railroad property. The location was at the end of the track that had been brought down to the steamboat landing as the Middletown Extension RR in 1859. The Courant said the Consolidated was completing its improvements here and trains were to start running to the new depot at the foot of Washington St. on 11/24/1879. The only reason for building this station was access to the boats and it is an interesting example of how rail and water facilities complemented each other even at this late date and would continue to do so well into the next century. This plain structure, which may also have been a hotel and restaurant, was almost not built in anticipation of MIDDLETOWN6, which opened in 1881 and the NYNH&H would start using in 1884. Passengers may still have been brought here to make river connections, however. The photo at upper right shows MIDDLETOWN3 standing side by side with this station. [REFS: HDC/07/16/1879/04; HDC/09/16/1879/04; HDC/09/29/1879/02; HDC/11/19/1879/04; CRC27.1880.13; HDC/11/01/1882/02; HDC/10/31/1884/04]

MIDDLETOWN6. The shot from the 1915 Bailey and Hughes map at lower left shows the 1881 B&NYAL station at the junction. A newspaper report in 1881 said the road had paid $5,000 for land here on which to build the new depot, presumably now expanding the property where MIDDLETOWN4 stood. The railroad commissioners said that the new station was "unique and tasteful." The Valley road would also use this facility, and by 1884 a new 'side track' was constructed for Berlin branch trains to start accessing what had finally become a true union station in Middletown. The NYNH&H was certainly entitled to utilize the Air Line station since it had leased the B&NYAL in 1882. In 1891, the Berlin branch track was lengthened slightly to go across the Air Line track to the end of the Valley passenger canopy. A new canopy, supported by two rows of posts, was to be built at this time. It is seen in the middle left photo. MIDDLETOWN6 was razed in 1940 [MM]. [REFS: MC/11/10/1875/02; NHER/07/12/1881/01; CRC29.1882.15,29; HDC/06/30/1882/02; HDC/11/01/1882/02; HDC/05/29/1883/04; HDC/12/06/1883/04; HDC/11/07/1884/04; HC/05/21/1891/06]

MILFORD1. Through some good fortune in discussing an unrelated matter, we happened tonight upon the 1882 Bailey bird's-eye map [click here] and found, to our surprise and delight, the image of this depot at left still standing across the track from the new, 1881 passenger station. The cross-gable style matches NORWALK1, STRATFORD1, and other early and NY&NH depots, right down to the diamond the window on the end. MILFORD1 may have been retained for use as a freight depot for a while, but it is not seen across the track from the new station in the pictures below. It stood pretty much where the westbound station is today, east of High St. and north of the track. The wider area and its location at the red arrow are shown on the 1852 NH map at right.

MILFORD3, built in 1894, is shown in the photo at upper right. The shot on the left looks toward New Haven after the 1914 electrification of the New York Division had been completed. MILFORD3 is on the left and MILFORD2 on the right. We have had the photo at lower left for some time and have wondered about its location. When contacted recently by longtime TCS friend, Dale V. Martin, former operator at the Berk and Stam towers, asking whether we had a picture of SS 72 in Milford, this photo came to mind. In discussing it with Dale, we came to the conclusion that it is in fact Milford and looks eastward, as the cut-off handwriting in the lower right corner seems to say, and smack dab in the middle is the tower. Dale thinks that it is possible the foundation is still in the ground, just west of High St. The photo appears to be ca. 1900. According to our research, the Milford tower opened as SS 18 when the block system was first introduced in 1888. [REFS: NHER/05/01/1888/04; CRC42.1894.17; R65]

MILLDALE1. This stop was an original one on the Canal line from 1848 when it was known as HITCHCOCKS. The later name for this locale, whatever its origin, does not begin to appear in newspapers until 1873 but the old name for the station seems to have been used until between 1888 and 1890, the latter date on a NYNH&H local timetable. It is very possible that the Consolidated itself effected the renaming after it leased the NH&N on 4/1/1887. The red arrow on the 1855HC map at left shows the original location of the stop. The real estate map at right corroborates that, even with a remnant of the canal in place. The newer name is penciled in and the depot sits east of the track right at Meriden-Waterbury Tpke, today's Rte. 322. The newer location would be west of the track about a quarter mile up Canal St. that was built on the filled-in bed of the historic waterway. What kind of a structure served as the first station is not yet known, nor if anything happened to it to necessitate a newer one. [adds11/15]

MILLDALE2. According to the NYNH&H real estate card, this depot was constructed in 1894. It was heavily damaged by fire and explosion on 2/4/1928 that blew out all the windows, possibly after spreading to the oil house just south of the station. The val photo at upper left is dated 9/25/1916 and the one at upper right, interestingly, was taken on 2/6/1928 perhaps for insurance purposes right after the fire. The structure was rebuilt by June of that year and reportedly shortened, though the shot at middle right is a val photo from 8/24/1934 and it looks to be the pretty much the same size after the rebuild. The 1914 tracing at lower left was updated for the rebuild, the handwritten notation saying that the ground plan reflects the pre-fire design. Rails here were reportedly were removed only in 2005 or so and this part of the Canal line is now being developed as part of the Farmington Canal Heritage Greenway [click here]. The station is still in use by a local construction company in 2011. MILLDALE2 played a cameo role as HOLGATE in the 1959 movie It Happened to Jane. If anyone has a photo showing that and wants to share, we would be happy to post it here. [REFS: NHER/10/20/1897/11; NHER/11/21/1899/10; NHER/06/30/1900/08; CWN/07/05/1900/02; HC/02/05/1928/5A; R66][rev11/13]

MILLERS. The map at lower right is from the Southington Historical Society and shows the location of this station, perhaps on Spring St. just above where today's I-84 crosses Rte. 10, Queen St. The stop does not appear on anything we have from 1849 to 1856, but it is seen on the 1858TT at left and it is gone on the 1870TT at right. The map info says that the W.A. Miller Clock Co. was founded in 1837 and lasted until the mid 1800s. Whether there was a platform or some minimal accommodation in the factory building, or nothing at all, is unclear. The PLANTSVILLE controversy of 1874-1877 makes no reference to a fourth station in Southington, more evidence perhaps that it was already gone prior to 1870. The snippet at lower left is from the CTRRMAP that is downloadable from the TCS home page and shows the location in reference to SOUTHINGTON stations below. Coincidentally, abandonment up from New Haven in 1987 left track still in place from this point up to PLAINVILLE [see P stations]. [add11/11]

MONROE. This station was on the HRR's section of the Extension. A Register article ran in 1889 on the day the location was to be decided upon at a meeting between Pres. Stevenson, Supt. Hopson, and the Monroe selectmen and the station was built in 1890. In 1894, the railroad commissioners approved a two-track spur crossing the highway near the station to reach the Fairfield Copper Co. Kevin Daly has favored us with the 1934 aerial map seen at left. The arrows are based on a observations during a legally-sanctioned reconnaissance mission wherein he and fellow investigator Bill Bracco clarified the precise location of the flag station and additionally use the map to indicate where the copper spur was. Thanks, guys! We have revised our CTRRMAP according to their findings. The spur crossed Hammertown Rd. and ended at the factory site that is visible on the map. Ed Coffey's A Glimpse of Old Monroe calls the copper smelting operation "Monroe's most expensive 19th-Century industrial venture." As he tells the story [p58+], 'promoter' Edward Smith purchased on credit several hundred acres bordering on Hammertown and Turkey Roost Rds. around 1893. Known as the Fairfield Copper Co. or the American Copper Factory, the plant and the 92-ft smokestack that belched sulphuric fumes, were said to have cost over $60,000. A "pillored" clubhouse atop the hill hosted champagne parties for a "racy" crowd that was the talk of the town. When local copper was soon found to be in short supply, product was reportedly brought in from Montana at $1000 a load. This costly oversight quickly forced Mr. Smith to suspend operations and leave town quickly. Creditors dismantled what ever they could to recover their losses and there is little today to mark the spot. Coffey says that the company built a MONROE station and that it was moved to Stevenson in 1905. It seems unlikely that there were two stations at what was a pretty remote outpost so, though Smith and company may have built this flag stop structure, we have seen no evidence yet that it was moved to Stevenson where the 1905 date does not fit into the station chronology there. See Track 5, MP 5.22.3+ for more on this part of the Extension. [REFS: NHDP/06/04/1888/04q: Plumb's cave nearby; NHER/11/20/1889/02; HRRAR 1890, p.5; CRC42.1894.34]

MONTOWESE. This is a great addition to TCS and the first and only photo we have seen. This station was established in 1870 by the local residents who raised $500 and graded the land themselves. According to the Courant, they named the depot "from an old Indian chief who formerly dwelt thereabouts" to distinguish it from the nearby NORTH HAVEN depot [see N stations] on the H&NH. The station location in the northeast quadrant at the Montowese Ave. crossing is seen on the 1915 val map. [REFS: HDC/12/12/1870/04; C/12/21/1870/02; NHER/07/03/1872/02]

MONTVILLE2. This second station was built after the first one burned in 1862. That one was described as being two-story, with the upper level for a public meeting hall. It went up in flames when the adjacent freight depot caught fire. The foundation for the replacement depot, for freight and passengers, was not laid for almost a year. At some point the freight station in the distance was added. In the photo on the upper right, the 1874-built locomotive was reportedly bought used in 1890 and carried the number 175 until 1900, thus establishing a definitive date range for this photo. In the middle right photo, Irving Drake is sitting on the steps of this look, different exterior siding, changed door and window arrangement, and new signal mast. The handwritten captioning betrays the Benton and Drake photo escapades of the 1930s when this shot was taken. [REFS: HDC/10/08/1862/02; HDC/09/21/1863/02; HDC/10/13/1863/02; HDC/11/05/1878/03]

MOOSUP1. The HP&F established this stop in 1854 when they opened from Providence, RI to Willimantic through this manufacturing village in the town of Plainfield. The first depot was built between October, 1855 and October, 1856, following the information in the annual reports. It apparently lasted until it burned on 7/21/1892 in a spontaneous-combustion fire that caused $100,000 worth of damage over three acres in the heart of the community. MOOSUP1 is pictured at left on the Burleigh bird's-eye map of 1889 [click here], the building with the locator number '11' on the roof. Trains due at the time were reportedly held at each side of the burning passenger and freight stations for upward of an hour until it was deemed safe for them to pass. [REFS: HPFAR6.1855.8; HPFAR7.1856.9; NHER/07/21/1892/01; SR/07/22/1892/07; CRC41.1893.39][rev1/5]

MOOSUP2. This station opened toward the end of 1893, a full 15 months after the fire of July, 1892. Curiously, new station design plans dated 11/14/1892 can be found at CSL in RG 041, the papers of the railroad commissioners. The reason for the delay in execution is unclear as is whether the NY&NE even told the commissioners that plans had been drawn up. Coincidentally, a few weeks after the date on the plans, public dissatisfaction surfaced in print when the Courant ran an article on 11/29/1892 entitled "NO STATION AT MOOSUP. A Suggestion to the New England Road" with text as follows: "Almost four months have gone by and no new railroad station has been built at Moosup. There is nothing but a baggage car for ladies and pack peddlers, smokers and tobacco chewers. A few days ago a gentleman and his invalid wife were obliged to stand out in the piercing cold wind waiting for the train, as she was not able to climb in and out of the car." Irregardless of any knowledge of the plans, the commissioners ordered the NY&NE to build a replacement station in late June, their first such action under new power given to them by the legislature as of 6/1/1893. At long last in October, 1893, the Courant said that "the new depot at Moosup will soon be ready for the public. The interior is finished in hard wood." The railroad commissioners, recounting the history of this affair, said in their December, 1893 annual report that this depot "is now in use." After all that trouble and public incovenience, MOOSUP2 itself would last only about three years, with an arson fire breaking out in the building at about 4:00 in the morning on 3/15/1897. The situation threatened to be another conflagration like 1892 but quick action saved adjacent buildings and stopped the spread of the flames. Reportedly contained in the east end of the depot, they nevertheless soon enveloped the whole structure and damaged freight cars on the siding as well. Presumably with a baggage car pressed into service again, it took six months until October, 1897 for the Courant to be able to report that "all the ruins about the old depot have been removed and the foundation walls have been fenced in," thus setting the stage for yet another new structure. [REFS: HC/11/29/1892/06; RRC28.323 (6/26/1893); CRC41.1893.23,39; Public Acts, 1893, CLXV; HC/10/13/1893/08; NYNEAR18.1894.8; HC/10/02/1897/10][rev12/31]

MOOSUP3. This station was built in 1898 by what had become the New England RR after the NYNH&H got control of the NY&NE in 1895 and reorganized it as a subsidiary. The railroad commissioners said in December, 1897 that a new depot was being built here but we have found no actual opening date in the newspapers. The 1915 val map at lower left [add12/26] shows the location of MOOSUP3, west of the tracks and below Prospect St. like its two predecessors, indicating no move farther north toward Main St. as had been rumored. [REFS: HC/03/15/1897/09; NHER/03/15/1897/07; CRC45.1897.23]

MORRIS1. The newspapers reported in August, 1873 that a station was being built on the newly opened Shepaug RR. at Smoke Hollow in West Morris. We are assuming that the newspaper misinterpreted the building of a station for the opening of one. The residence on the left here is reportedly where the first depot was located. This is a card postmarked May 2, 1910. In the photo on the right, we can see this building as well as the actual station building that came later. [REFS: HDC/08/08/1873/04, HDC/8/15/1873/04]

MORRIS2. This is the only structure we have seen for a station built for that purpose here in Morris and probably is the one that the railroad commissioners mention as being built in 1886. This is certainly the one that lasted into the 1900s since the locomotive in the photo at upper right was renumbered as the 502 in 1905, according to Fisher. There is a chance that the one reported as being built in 1873 came after the use of the residence above and would add another station here from 1873 until 1886 when this one was built. That possibility needs to be researched further. [REFS: HDC/08/08/1873/04, HDC/8/15/1873/04; CRC34.1886.12; Steam Locomotives, p.51]

MOUNT CARMEL1. Also referred to as AXLE WORKS or AXLE SHOP, this was the first early stop in northern Hamden and appears on a 3/25/1849 timetable at a point nine miles above New Haven. The photo at upper left shows the track in front of the factory with probably a remnant of the old canal alongside of it. Corroborating Hartley's History of Hamden [p328], the station is seen as just a platform at the red arrow on the 1856NH map [upper right]. By 1880, the track would be moved farther west to lessen the number of grade crossings and to stop frightening the horses on Cheshire Tpke., which shared the railroad right of way. The shot at lower left shows no track and an enlarged factory complex, the shapes of the buildings agreeing with the footprint on the 1870 map at lower right [add10/27]. The location of the platform appears to be at the present intersection of West Woods Rd. and Rte 10. MOUNT CARMEL1 was abandoned in 1875 along with MOUNT CARMEL2 in favor of an actual station building, MOUNT CARMEL3, built at the Ives location in 1875.

MOUNT CARMEL2. This was a simple platform, mostly used as a stop for workers at the Ives factory. Some of the buildings still stand at the bend in today's Rte. 22, seen on the map as the road to North Haven. This stop is not on the 1849TT but does show up on the next one we have, which is dated 1859. The 1870 map was created to show this stop and MOUNT CARMEL1, both up for abandonment at the time an actual station, MOUNT CARMEL3, was built at this location. Because of the proximity to the factory, this stop appears on most timetables as IVES, and we have posted a cross-reference there. [add10/27]

MOUNT CARMEL3. This station was built in 1875 to replace the platform we have listed as MOUNT CARMEL2. The structure seen here is a typical NH&N Italianate brick station of the period, complete with 'porthole' on the ends under the eave. In these years, the NH&N line still followed the old Farmington Canal bed that ran along Cheshire Turnpike, now Whitney Ave., Rte. 10. When the safety issues of the old alignment persuaded the town to vote funds to assist the railroad in relocating the line westward in 1880, this station was abandoned and used as a store thereafter. [REFS: NHDP/11/07/1874/04; RRC9.9 (6/2/1874); CRC23.1876.16; R67]

MOUNT CARMEL4. The newspaper reported in 1881 that the relocation of the tracks, anywhere from 500 feet to one mile west of the highway [Rte. 10], was finished along a 6-mile stretch northward from "the Plains to Ives' station." It actually went farther north than IVES to rejoin the original alignment by the time it reached West Woods Rd. The work cost the railroad $100,000, with the town chipping in $14,000. A new station, MOUNT CARMEL4, was built along the relocated line. We have not found an exact date but assume it was completed early in 1882. The location was just north of today's Sherman Ave., where the brick passenger station, heavily modified, is presently in use by a construction company. The handsome brick freight station, well preserved and looking as it originally did, also survives as a hair salon. The 1912 real estate map [add10/27] shows the layout at that time. Note the streetcar tracks and trolley station on Whitney Ave., Rte. 10, and the route of the Farmington Canal where the original railroad ran. We have to recheck if the photo at lower left [add1/1] carries any date but it shows the nattily dressed NYNH&H staff posing in front of the station, perhaps in the 1930s. [REFS: NHER/10/20/1881/04]

MYSTIC2. Also known as MYSTIC BRIDGE. Based on the NYP&B annual report [p121] for the year ending August 31, 1867, a new station was built here "to replace the one burnt." That fire occurred on Wednesday, July 4, 1866, in what was probably not the first and certainly not the last Independence Day to see a railroad station accidentally consumed by flames. "Cause, the day we celebrate," according to the Courant and the value of the lost building was put at $3,000. We have accordingly made the one pictured here the second station at this location and given it a build date of 1866. The snippet is from the Bailey bird's-eye map of 1879: click here. [REFS: HDC/07/07/1866/04; SR/07/14/1866/01]


				TylerCityStation.Info Track 16 - CT Passenger Stations



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