(rshsdepot) Canaan, CT

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Group Set To Restore Station
Plans To Buy Historic Railroad Building

December 27, 2002
By DAVID OWENS, Hartford Courant Staff Writer

CANAAN -- A historical organization plans to buy what's left of Canaan's
historic Union Station and rebuild the structure that once was the
centerpiece of this Northwest Corner town.

In October 2001, an arson fire heavily damaged the L-shaped station, built
in 1872 where two rail lines crossed. Firefighters managed to save the
section of station fronting the north-south tracks. The east-west section
and the three-story tower were destroyed.

The Connecticut Railroad Historical Association has signed a contract to buy
the remaining station and property and plans to close the deal by
mid-January, said Douglas E. Humes, Canaan's first selectman and the
association vice president. The group will work to raise money to pay for
the purchase and restoration, which it is estimated will cost $2.5 million.

"We're quite thrilled about this," Humes said Thursday. "That's a focal
point of downtown Canaan. We felt that someone had to step up to the plate.
Here we are."

The association plans to have retail space in a portion of the rebuilt
station, as well as a museum, he said.

Lyle Kloke, the historical association's secretary, said the group will seek
state and federal assistance on the project, as well as solicit private
funds. The association, established in 1967, is a nonprofit charitable
organization dedicated to promoting railroad history.

For more information about the Connecticut Railroad Historical Society,
contact it at P.O. Box 255, Canaan, CT 06018.

Although several stations remain intact along the Housatonic line between
New Milford and Canaan, the Union Station was by far the most impressive.
Its tower provided a view down each rail line. The station housed
freight-handling areas, a passenger waiting room, ticket office and other
railroad facilities.

It also served as the impetus for development of the village of Canaan.
Before the railroad arrived, there wasn't much there.

The man who ran the station - the station agent - was often a well-known and
popular citizen. In the days before telephones and radio, the station agent
was the first to receive word of important news, thanks to his telegraph
link to the outside world.

As railroad service deteriorated along the line in the '60s and '70s, the
station was used less and less. The last passenger train left the station in
1971.

Paul Ramunni, one of the current owners, bought the station in 1984. He and
a partner restored the structure and had plans to develop a caboose motel at
the site, but later abandoned the proposal.

Ramunni, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, had hoped to
spearhead his own effort to rebuild the station.

This fall, after a series of frustrations, he announced that he was giving
up and that he would offer for sale the portion of the station that
firefighters had saved and its 1-acre lot.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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