Thornwood station was a stop on the Metro-North Railroad's

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 Sou ...

, serving the hamlet of

Mount Pleasant, New York Mount Pleasant is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 44,436. The hamlets of Valhalla, Hawthorne, Pocantico Hills, and Thornwood, and the vill ...

until its closure in 1984. During its existence, the station was one of the least used on the Harlem Line. Prior to its closure, it had only half the weekday service of the neighboring Hawthorne and Pleasantville stations, and was merely a

flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, s ...

for four trains on weekends.

History

The New York and Harlem Railroad laid tracks through what would later become the Village of Sherman Park during the 1840s. The community of Sherman Park was built around the tracks in 1891, and the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad station was soon established there. The village was dissolved in 1914 and renamed "Thornwood," and the station was renamed as such. Sometime during the late-1950s the former

Richardson Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesq ...

depot was replaced with a simple brick structure. As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 transformed the station into a

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

which made it part of Metro-North in 1983. When electrification of the Harlem Line between North White Plains and Brewster North in 1984, the station was not upgraded due to sharp track curvature and low ridership precluding such upgrades, and as such was closed on March 4, 1984. At the time of closing, what few customers Thornwood had were directed to use the Pleasantville station (1 mile north) as a replacement. The former station house, which is located where New York State Route 141 moves from Commerce Street to Franklin Avenue is now occupied by the Thornwood-Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce, which was established the year after the station was closed.Thornwood-Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce (Established in 1985, according to the seal)
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References

External links

Harlem Line Tour - Photos of Thornwood
Metro-North Railroad stations in New York (state) Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in Westchester County, New York Railway stations closed in 1984 1984 disestablishments in New York (state) {{NewYork-railstation-stub