(rshsdepot) New London, CT

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Day.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

New London's Railroad Station   
By Carol W.  Kimball     Published on 2/18/2008  
 
A reader from Florida asked me to write about the New London railroad 
station. He  remembered when his mother took him there to take the train for New York 
when he  was small, and when he boarded the train later on his way to Fort 
Dix. I, too,  recall the station. When I was in eighth grade, a summer long 
before air  conditioning, I took the train to visit Aunt Bertha in New York. We 
sat by an  open window. By the end of the trip our arms and clothes were covered 
with black  flecks of soot. 
 
In the 19th century, New London was a noisy railroad junction with trains  
coming in from all directions. The New London, Willimantic and Palmer Railroad  
from the north began service in 1850. Two years later the New Haven and New  
London Railroad puffed in from the west. They were served by a modest wooden  
depot located south of the present station, which opened Oct. 18, 1852,  
providing joint facilities. Willimantic and Palmer tracks ran in front of the  
station while New Haven tracks passed behind, connecting with the ferry across  the 
Thames.  
More trains came. In 1858 the New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad  
carried passengers from the east across the Thames River by means of a 
railroad  ferry. The little wooden station was swamped with additional traffic. Irate 
 passengers complained for years, but nothing was done until the old station  
burned in 1885. After heated discussions officials of the three railroads 
agreed  to build a new station on city land at the end of the Parade, the large 
open  area at the foot of State Street used in the past for militia training. 
They  promised to make no claim to the waterfront, and the ferry landing was 
moved  south.  
The new building, appropriately known as Union Station, was designed by the  
prominent and influential American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, one of 
his  last works before his death in 1886. In typical Richardson Romanesque 
style, the  massive building displayed clusters of windows and a sharp roofline 
profile.  Some people complained that the station spoiled the city's view of the 
river and  the Groton shore, but in general it was well received and proved a 
boon to  harried passengers.  
That is the structure I recall from my youth, although railroad names had  
changed. We waited there for trains in a large high-ceilinged room paneled in  
dark wood with metal grills in front of ticket windows and uncomfortable wooden 
 benches. I remember quaint metal radiators attached to the walls and a  
formidable, uninviting ladies room. Outside, just south of the building, a long  
steep foot bridge built in 1912 crossed the tracks, providing safe access to 
the  Groton-New London ferry. This unattractive tunneled stairway was removed 
after  the ferry became obsolete.  
Through the years Richardson's sturdy exterior looked the same, but the  
interior did not fare as well. I recall sending my son off to MIT in the  
mid-'60s. The waiting room was dingy and dirty. Huge hunks of soiled insulation  hung 
from vaulted ceilings like mushroom clouds, although they didn't dampen the  
spirits of the college-bound below. I wasn't surprised to learn in 1971 that an 
 urban renewal program proposed demolishing the bulky 84-year-old Union 
Station.  
Opinions were divided. Only a few advocated preserving Richardson's station.  
In what many thought was a hopeless task, these protesting troops were led by 
 Claire Dale, a concert pianist on the faculty at Connecticut College. But 
after  a six-year struggle, Union Station was spared and renovated, astonishing 
those  who had assumed it would be removed. With the new arrangement the 
building was  under private ownership, leasing space to Amtrak. Hundreds attended 
the grand  opening. I remember the excitement. We loved to go to the fine new 
restaurant  that opened upstairs in the station.  
Passing years have brought changes, and more are in store. The state  
Department of Transportation is presently studying plans for a single transit  center 
for the city that may involve the venerable Union Station. Who knows what  
the future will bring?  
_carolkimball0647_@_yahoo.com_ (mailto:carolkimball0647@yahoo.com) 



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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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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1680
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org