Roxbury Railroad Station
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Location | Roxbury, New York |
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Nearest city | Stamford, New York |
Coordinates | 42°17′41″N 74°34′30″W / 42.29472°N 74.57500°WCoordinates: 42°17′41″N 74°34′30″W / 42.29472°N 74.57500°W |
Built | 1872 |
Part of | Ulster and Delaware Railroad Depot and Mill Complex (#03000254) |
Designated CP | April 18, 2003 |
Roxbury Station, also known as the Ulster and Delaware Railroad Depot, is located at MilePost 59.1 on the Ulster and Delaware Railroad / West Shore "Catskill Mountain Branch" in the hamlet of Roxbury, New York. The station is a contributing property to the Ulster and Delaware Railroad Depot and Mill Complex, a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
This depot was originally constructed by the Rondout & Oswego Railroad with construction completed in January 1872. The R&O would be reorganized into the New York, Kingston and Syracuse railroad only three months later, in April 1872.
The NYK&S RR itself only lasted until 1875, at which time it was reorganized into the Ulster & Delaware Railroad.
The station as originally built consisted of a single rectangular structure, with an internal dividing wall separating passenger and freight rooms.
It was substantially altered sometime between 1888 and 1891 by the U&D. Some believe Helen Gould Shepherd (railroad tycoon Jay Gould's daughter) designed and/or financed the renovation.
Local history has it, she wanted a more elaborate waiting room for her friends and family, so an addition was constructed on the north side of the building. The addition consisted of two rooms: the tickets agents office (facing the tracks through a bay window) also containing a telegrapher's office, and the main waiting room.
Also of particular note, is that this station was equipped with what is believed to be the first indoor flush toilet in Delaware County, and central heating, with a common coal fired furnace in the basement with duct work and registers to transport hot air to the Ticket Agent's Office & Waiting Room upstairs. This "modern convenience" eliminated the ever-popular "potbelly" stove ever so present and common in railroad stations across the country.
Another addition to the station at this time was a portico, or colonnade (open air roofed area similar to a pole barn) attached to the north side. Most U&D RR stations did not have this feature.