Union Station served the residents of

Chatham, New York Chatham is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Columbia County, New York, Columbia County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 4,104 at the 2020 census, down from the 2010 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 ...

, from 1887 to 1972 as a passenger station and until 1976 as a freight station. It was the final stop for

Harlem Line The Harlem Line is an commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

trains. It had originally served trains of the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The mainline is currently used by CSX for freight a ...

, then the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

and the Rutland Railway. It served as a junction for service that radiated to

Rensselaer, New York Rensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, United States, and is located on the east side of the Hudson River, opposite Albany and on the western border of Rensselaer County. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 9,210. ...

, to the northwest;

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

, to the southwest;

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, to the northeast, and

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...

to the east and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to the south. The building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and currently serves as a branch office of the National Union Bank of Kinderhook. Though it no longer serves as a train station, the rail line alongside it is still a very active mainline for CSX

freight rail Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...

between Selkirk Yard, south of Albany, and Worcester, Massachusetts.

History

Before the station house was built, rail service to Chatham began on December 21, 1841, when the first portion of the Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad was put into service between Greenbush (east of Albany) and Chatham. The Harlem Extension of 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 ...

was built to Chatham by 1869. By late 1870, a series of company mergers led to the formation of the Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A). In 1881, the B&A hired

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

to design several stations for the railroad. Richardson died unexpectedly in 1886 and the remaining station design work was transferred to the Boston-based architecture firm of

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge was a successful American architectural firm based in Boston. As the successor to the studio of Henry Hobson Richardson, they completed his unfinished work before developing their own practice, and had extensive commissi ...

. They designed the Chatham Station, which was opened for service along the B&A's Boston to Albany line in 1887. The

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

building features a

Dutch gable A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and which has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the terminat ...

roof with wide eaves and

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

porticos that extend out east and west along the tracks over the low platform. The walls are made of lightly colored rusticated stone, with window and door frames, sills and

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

s of contrasting

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

. A prominent

bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Like bay windows, bow windows add space to a room by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building and provide a wider view of the garden or street outside than flush windows, but combine ...

faces trackside and once was used as part of the stationmaster's office. The

(NYC) took over the B&A in 1900. The station house was originally staffed by a ticket agent, but the ticket office was closed by the NYC in 1960. The last passenger service to Chatham on the east-west B&A route was daily 'Beeliner' (Budd Rail Diesel Car/"RDC") service between Albany and Boston, in 1965. The station remained as an active station for passenger service south along the NYC's Harlem Line until March 20, 1972. Under the aegis of

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

, the station was closed in March, 1976 when freight operations from

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

to Millerton were terminated. Conrail utilized the station for storage in the mid-1970s. In 1977, the freight railroad attempted to sell the station and surrounding land for $85,000. Passenger service on the

Rutland Railroad The Rutland Railroad was a railroad in the northeastern United States, located primarily in the state of Vermont but extending into the state of New York at both its northernmost and southernmost ends. After its closure in 1961, parts of the ...

from Chatham to Bennington ended in 1931, with freight service continuing until 1951. Tracks north to North Bennington, Vermont were abandoned in 1951 and dismantled shortly afterward. The removal of the last NYC Harlem Line trackage south of Church Street followed 29 years later, in 1980.

trackage remains in place and is currently used by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

. The line was single-tracked by Conrail in the late 1980s. Chatham Union Station was listed on the

on May 1, 1974.Columbia County Listings on the National Register of Historic Places
/ref> In addition to active freight service, Amtrak's ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an Amtrak Long Distance, overnight passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the Northeastern United States, with sections to New York City and Boston. The central segment of the route runs along the s ...

'' long-distance passenger train between Chicago and Boston passes through Chatham without stopping. The station-house was renovated and reopened in 1999 to serve as a branch of the National Union Bank of Kinderhook. Currently, the

Harlem Valley Rail Trail The Harlem Valley Rail Trail is a paved rail trail on an abandoned portion of the New York and Harlem Railroad, north of the hamlet of Wassaic and accessible by train, one mile north of the start at the Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line terminus ...

Association has plans to extend its trail along the right-of-way in front of the site of the former station. As of September 2016, $3.5 million was appropriated to the HVRT association in Dutchess & Columbia counties to complete this project. Once completed, the HVRT will contain 46 contiguous miles of path between Wassaic and Chatham.New York Central Railroad Employee Timetables, Harlem Division, 1971-1972

References

External links

*
Chatham, Former Terminus of the Harlem Division, Photos Then and Now
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Former railway stations in New York (state) Railway stations in the United States opened in 1887

Former Rutland Railroad stations

Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Railway stations in Columbia County, New York Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, New York 1887 establishments in New York (state) 1972 disestablishments in New York (state) Transportation in Columbia County, New York Railway stations in the United States closed in 1972 Railway stations in the United States closed in 1976

History

See also

References

External links