Garden City station (LIRR)

This article is about the Long Island Rail Road station in Garden City, New York. For the former Santa Fe and current Amtrak railroad station in Kansas, see Garden City station (Kansas).
Garden City
The two station houses of Garden City's Long Island Rail Road Station, looking east.
General information
LocationSeventh Street
Garden City, New York
Coordinates40°43′23″N 73°38′24″W / 40.723136°N 73.64007°W / 40.723136; -73.64007
Owned byLong Island Rail Road
Line(s)Hempstead Branch
Distance18.4 mi (29.6 km) from Long Island City[1]
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsLocal Transit Nassau Inter-County Express: n40, n41
Construction
ParkingYes
Bicycle facilitiesBike Rack
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone4
History
Opened1872 (CRRLI)
Rebuilt1898
ElectrifiedMay 26, 1908[2]
750 V (DC) third rail
Passengers
20061,401[3]
Services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station
Nassau Boulevard
toward Penn Station, Grand Central or Atlantic Terminal
 Hempstead Branch Country Life Press
toward Hempstead
Location
Map

Garden City is one of five stations of the Long Island Rail Road that serves the village of Garden City, New York. It is on the Hempstead Branch and is at Seventh Street between Hilton and Cathedral Avenues, directly across the street from the Garden City Hotel. It is one of the few Long Island Rail Road stations with two station houses.

History

A bust of Alexander Turney Stewart in the parking lot

Garden City station was originally built in 1872 by the Central Railroad of Long Island, which was built by Alexander Turney Stewart to bring visitors to the Garden City Hotel. The original station was a typical one-story Victorian structure with a second story over the front door, and a back "porch" over high platforms.[4] It also included a separate freight house.

The CRRLI merged with the Flushing and North Side Railroad in 1874 to form the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad, only to be acquired by the Long Island Rail Road in 1876. Prior to their acquisition of the FNS&C, the LIRR gave the name "Garden City Station" to Clowesville station along the main line. The LIRR rebuilt it in 1898, and the rebuilt station had eyebrow porch windows along the roof and trolley connections to Mineola-Freeport branch of the New York and Long Island Traction Company. A pedestrian tunnel was added in 1915,[5] which included an additional trolley along the Central Branch, and a removal of the eyebrow porch windows on the roof of the station house before 1918. High-level platforms were added during the 1970s and a major restoration project took place in the early-21st Century.

Besides standing in the shadow of the Garden City Hotel, Garden City station is also next to the Garden City Public Library. The station has residential parking on both sides of the tracks on 6th and 7th Streets, as well as unrestricted free parking at nearby Stewart Avenue between Hilton & Franklin Avenues, and free parking during off-peak hours along 6th Street near Cathedral Avenue.

The station provides access to the Cathedral of the Incarnation. Built in 1876, it is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and stands just south of the station on Cathedral Avenue.

Station layout

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long.

Platform A, side platform Disabled access
Track 1 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Grand Central Madison, Atlantic Terminal, or Penn Station (Nassau Boulevard)
Track 2 ←      Hempstead Branch toward Hempstead (Country Life Press) →
Platform B, side platform Disabled access

References

  1. ^ Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. VI. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  2. ^ "Hurrah at Hempstead Over the Third Rail". The Brooklyn Times Union. May 20, 1908. p. 5. Retrieved September 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study[full citation needed]
  4. ^ "1879 Garden City Station". Unofficial LIRR Website. Archived from the original on August 27, 2000.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Bob Emery Hempstead Branch to Garden City Map; 1959". TrainsAreFun.com.