History of Maywood Station
In 1871, the New Jersey Midland Railway,
predecessor of today's New York, Susquehanna & Western (NYS&W),
began constructing a rail line between New Foundland, NJ and
Hackensack NJ. The line was part of a plan to connect with the
New York & Oswego Midland (later New York, Ontario & Western) in
Middletown, NY and provide rail service from the Great Lakes to
New York Harbor. The residents of what would later become
Maywood, which at the time was part of an area called Midland Township, saw the advantages of the new railroad
and requested a stop be made. At the time, approximately
13 homes with nearly 90 residents were in the
boundaries of today's Maywood. Soon afterward, construction of
Maywood Station began. On March 11, 1872, the New Jersey Midland
commenced operating trains on the new line and Maywood Station
formally opened in the same paint colors you see it restored to
today. Six passenger trains a day in each direction initially
stopped at Maywood. It should be noted that for a brief period
after the station opened, the station sign said "West
Hackensack" but this was removed due to the requests of local
residents who wanted the station named "Maywood", as the
immediate area surrounding the station had then become known.
A station agent was employed and it is
believed that the first agent was named George Sipley. The
station agent handled passenger baggage, freight shipments to and
from the station, passenger ticketing and general functions in
addition to performing the job of postmaster. In the 1872 to
1910 period, Maywood Station served as Maywood's Post Office at
various times when it wasn't housed in a local merchants store.
Another station agent/postmaster was Charles M. Berdan, who held
this position in the late 1890's into the early 1900's. Mr.
Berdan's home was located directly across Maywood Avenue from
the station and exists today. Maywood Station was also equipped
with a telegraph so that the railroad could communicate between
their stations and local residents could send messages around
the world. The station also offered Wells Fargo and, later,
Railway Express Agency delivery services. These services lasted
into the 1960's.
When Maywood Station was built, it was
originally located on the south side of the current tracks. In
1893, the station was moved to its present location on the north
side of the tracks due to the addition of a second set of tracks
being constructed and a purchase of additional land by the
railroad. At the
time, several
additional NYS&W stations along the line were similarly moved
for the same reason. When the station was moved, it
was jacked up onto the rails, the rails greased, spun around and
slid approximately 30-feet closer to Maywood Avenue, then jacked
up again and moved to its present location. A new foundation was
also added. It is interesting to note that the front of Maywood
Station as we know it today was originally the rear of the station.
Additional improvements were made at this time including the
addition of a freight platform at the "new" rear of the station.
The spot where Maywood Station was moved to originally included
a passing siding where steam locomotives were stationed to be
added, when necessary, to help heavy freight trains on the several
grades encountered heading west on the line. When the station
was moved, the passing siding was cut back and and one of the
two switches was removed. The remaining trackage was then used
to store freight cars, which were unloaded at the station. The
siding started to the west of the station and ran 440-feet to
near the rear freight platform of the station. The siding was
last used in the early 1970's and remnants of it can be seen
today.
In 1894, the approximate 1.1 square mile area
that included Maywood Station,
formerly part of Midland Township, was incorporated as the
Borough of Maywood. Also that year, the NYS&W expanded into
western New Jersey and through it's Wilkes Barre & Eastern Railroad
subsidiary,
into the coal fields in the Pocono region of northeastern Pennsylvania. The rail line
could now take a passenger from a ferry at New York City
to a connection at Jersey City, NJ to almost to Scranton, PA on
it's own rails. The added ease of transportation began to attract
manufacturing to Maywood as well as a demand for new homes. In
1894, the total residents living in Maywood numbered
approximately 300 but this was about to change.
New manufacturing and homes sprang up in
the area surrounding the station and included such industry as
Schaefer Alkaloids Company, Maywood Chemical Company and Maywood
Art Tile Company. As these companies expanded so did
Maywood's population and by 1920 it numbered nearly 3000 (today
Maywood has approximately 9500 residents). The 1920's also marked the height of passenger
service provided by the NYS&W at Maywood Station. Thirteen
passenger trains in each direction stopped at Maywood Station on
a daily basis. Freight shipments continued to be delivered to
the station and most of the local industry had their own rail sidings
serving their plants. The NYS&W was enjoying a period of
prosperity and in 1920, a freight house addition was added to
rear of Maywood Station and the exterior walls received a stucco
finish over the existing boards and battens. Stucco was
in-vogue in the 1920's and the NYS&W applied this material to
several other stations on their line as well. In 1926, another round of
various improvements were made at Maywood Station including the
addition of interior men's and women's bathrooms, an 8-inch concrete
floor installed to replace the wooden floor planking plus
electrical and heating improvements. Unfortunately, the Great
depression struck in October 1929 and lasted well into the late
1930's and the growth slowed dramatically. In 1937, the NYS&W
declared bankruptcy and shortly thereafter was spun off from
it's parent, the Erie Railroad, which had controlled it since
1898. Around the same time, Maywood Station's bay window was
removed due its deteriorating condition.
The newly independent NYS&W fought hard to
survive and cut back certain services but at the same time tried
innovative concepts like streamlined, self-propelled, rail diesel passenger
cars as a way of cutting costs while boosting efficiency. The
railroad also quickly retired its steam locomotives and replaced
them with more efficient diesel locomotives starting in 1941 and
completed the program in 1947. During
World War II, the fortunes of the NYS&W did improve with the
wartime demands placed on America's railroads. As in World War
I, many of Maywood's servicemen departed through Maywood
Station, some never to return. By
1953, the NYS&W was solvent once again but only for a few years.
Faced with mounting losses from the passenger services it
offered and America's love affair with the automobile and a new
interstate highway system, the railroad once again embarked on a period of
reducing their passenger train schedules. Losses continued and
on June 30, 1966, the last passenger train called on Maywood
Station as well as on the entire NYS&W, however the railroad
continued to utilize the tracks at Maywood Station for
their freight operations, which continues to prosper to this day. Shortly
after the end of passenger service, the
station was closed and was used by the NYS&W as a maintenance
base and for storage. Bill Spence served as Maywood Station's
last station agent. In the late 1970's Maywood's Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) leased the station from the NYS&W to be used
as a meeting hall. The VFW made a number of improvements
including repainting the station, repairing cracked stucco,
repairing the roof and maintaining the grounds. In the early
1990's, the VFW moved out of the station and it remained
unoccupied until June 2002, even though the NYS&W attempted to
lease it to another tenant during this period. Faced with a pending order of
demolition by the Borough of Maywood in early 2002 due to the deteriorating
conditions of the station, a volunteer, 501C3 non-profit group named the Maywood
Station Historical Committee Division of the New York,
Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society, Inc. was
formed with a plan to restore the station and turn it into a
museum. After several years of volunteer work to restore the
station and create a museum, the group has successfully achieved their objectives
and more, including placement of the station on both the
National and New Jersey Historic Registers. The station now enjoys the notoriety as being the one of the
most impressive restoration projects and museum efforts to date in the
State of
New Jersey's historical community.
In
Memory of Maywood Station Historical Committee Members
George J. Haag
Edward P. Hazuka
In
Memory of New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway President, Chairman
& Chief Executive Officer
Walter G. Rich
