The Claremont Park station was a station on the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

in the East Morrisania neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

also ran through this station but did not stop here.

History

Robinson Manhattan and Bronx Plate 38 publ

Rail service along the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

passed through

Morrisania Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 161st Street to the south, and Webster Avenue ...

as far back as 1841, and a station was known to exist as far back as 1847, but this wasn't the station. Instead an additional station was built by

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

within the vicinity of 172nd Street/Wendover Avenue as far back as the late-1860s. Originally named Central Morrisania station, it was built at surface level along with the rest of the tracks. Realizing the railroad was causing suburban sprawl within what was then southern Westchester County, the New York City Parks Department acquired the site of the former Claremont Mansion one block to the west in 1888, and converted it into a park. The station was renamed for that park roughly around the time Claremont Park station was rebuilt by New York Central in April 1891, as part of a grade elimination project within the Bronx. It contained a station house as a bridge on the north side of Claremont Parkway over all four tracks, with two side platforms. Similar structures were built for the former Morrisania Station, as well as the still operating Melrose and Tremont Stations. A small freight yard also used to exist north of the station between the Claremont Parkway and 173rd Street bridges, the remnants of which can still be seen to this day. Three blocks east, the

Suburban Rapid Transit Company The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railwa ...

built the Third Avenue Elevated Line and installed a station along the same street in 1888. No streetcar or bus lines connected the two stations to one another, however. Declining ridership following World War II, along with the decline of the South Bronx lead to the downfall of various stations within the Bronx, along with competition with the subway, the el, and the automobile. Local politicians also demanded that New York Central take better care of the stations in the Bronx, which they weren't always able to do at the time. On September 14, 1950, the Public Service Commission ended hearings about the New York Central's petition to discontinue service at this station and the 183rd Street station. The Central wanted to close the station to cut travel times on trains to Westchester. Claremont Park station was closed in 1960. As a result of the closure, commuters were forced to take either Morrisania station, Tremont station, or the nearby Claremont Parkway elevated station. Of the three mentioned, only Tremont station survives today.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Claremont Park Topo Map in Bronx County NY (TopoZone.com)
Former railway stations in New York (state) Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in the Bronx Railway stations closed in 1960