New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
railroad station on the
Raritan Valley Line
The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region in central New Jersey, United States. ...
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States. The building on the north side of the tracks (westbound platform) is a Victorian building and, like the north building at Westfield, is used by a non-profit organization. The address is Fanwood Station, 238 North Avenue, Fanwood, Union County, New Jersey.Historic American Buildings Survey, (1986) Fanwood Station, South Side Waiting Room, 238 North Avenue, Raritan Valley Line, Fanwood, Union, NJ " Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. The ticket office is in the station building on the south side of the tracks (eastbound platform). The station was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on July 17, 1980.
History
The original station was built a quarter mile to the north and called Scotch Plains station. That station was put in service in 1837 by the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad which had completed the line from Elizabethport to Plainfield by that time. Modern-day Midway Avenue occupies the route of the old line. The original line had to skirt the hill at Fanwood because wood-burning locomotives of the time could not climb the steep grade. With the advent of more powerful coal-burning locomotives that were able to climb the Fanwood hill, the Central Railroad of New Jersey (which had taken over the line) began to acquire land in 1867 to relocate the line to its current location. The company's charter from the state required the railroad to acquire all the land between the old line and the new line. The land acquired was fan-shaped. The station name was changed from Scotch Plains to Fanwood. Besides a new station, the land was developed by the railroad into suburban housing lots laid out on a network of curved streets and called Fanwood Park. The Central New Jersey Land Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the railroad, built and sold houses in Fanwood Park for the next forty years.
The Fanwood Station Complex consists of the main station building (1874), the shelter (1897) and the overpass (1946). The station main building was built in 1874 in the popular Victorian
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
style. The station was part of a new line from Westfield to Plainfield and named Fanwood after Miss Fanny Wood, the daughter of a railroad official. Similar
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsElberon, named after local property magnate L. B. Brown. The lands surrounding the station became known as Fanwood Park, and the Borough of Fanwood was created in 1895. Several stations were erected in this style. These include Matawan on the North Jersey Coast line (though it lost its
gingerbread trim
Gingerbread is an architectural style that consists of elaborately detailed embellishment known as gingerbread trim. It is more specifically used to describe the detailed decorative work of American designers in the late 1860s and 1870s, which w ...
Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...
, Sewaren and
Asbury Park
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188
.
The shelter was built 1897 for the
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...
(New Jersey Central) to the designs of an unknown architect in a similar style to the main building. It was designed as a baggage facility and passenger waiting area for the Southside (non-main building) of the tracks. and converted into a temporary commuter sheeted in 1965 when the station was sold to the Borough of Fanwood and converted for community use. The overpass, which bridged two sides of the tracks, was erected in 1946.
The station was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
side platform
A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...
s serving two tracks. The inbound platform is long while the outbound platform is long; both can accommodate four cars.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Union County, New Jersey
List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Union County, New Jersey
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Current listings
This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Union ...