Barrytown station is a defunct commuter railroad station in the Barrytown section of Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York. Located at the end of Station Hill Road, the station served trains of the New York Central Railroad's main line between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois. The station served as the local stop for Bard College in nearby Annandale-on-Hudson. Though the station no longer stands, Amtrak operates inter-city rail services through Barrytown as part of the Empire Service from New York Penn Station to Niagara Falls along with five additional services.
Railroad service began on an official basis on October 1, 1851, when the first trains between Tivoli and Poughkeepsie were installed by the Hudson River Railroad. Prior to this, the railroad had operated substitute steamship service from Poughkeepsie and Hudson to make up for the gap in tracks. In September 1920, Warren Delano IV, a local entrepreneur and uncle of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was killed at Barrytown station in a freak accident involving a show horse and an oncoming express train. With a decline in ridership, the New York Central Railroad filed in June 1959 to have the station closed and passenger service discontinued. The request was approved in September 1959, which also allowed the railroad to demolish the station building. In January 1963, with the railroad attempting to close the station depot at nearby Rhinecliff, locals offered to reopen the Barrytown station to serve as a suitable replacement due to its close proximity to the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge, but the New York State Public Service Commission rejected the railroad's request in April.
History Early history (1847–1908) Railroad service along the east bank of the Hudson River started with the charter of the Hudson River Railroad Company in March 1847. Construction of the railroad began that year and the stretch from New York City to Peekskill opened on September 30, 1849. On December 31, 1849, the railroad was extended to Poughkeepsie. However, construction from Poughkeepsie to Albany did not immediately follow. Until the construction of the railroad was finished, the railroad operated two steamships on the Hudson River that made all intended intermediate stops, including Barrytown. The alignment from Poughkeepsie to Albany was built in small sections. The section from Albany to Hudson opened on June 16, 1851; an extension to Oak Hill opened on July 7. This continued to Tivoli on August 3. The railroad alignment from Tivoli to Poughkeepsie, including Barrytown, was finished on October 1, 1851. The Hudson River Railroad opened the full alignment to passenger service on October 8, 1851 to high fanfare.
A plumber's lamp started a fire in Barrytown on May 12, 1908 at the Riverside Hotel. The wooden frame hotel burned and winds off the Hudson River helped the fire spread to multiple buildings. The American Ice Company ice house was in the route of the embers. It then jumped over to the blacksmith shop operated by the ice firm and a second line went from the hotel stables to other nearby livery stables. Once the fire reached Edward Carr's store and stable, it reached the freight station operated by the New York Central Railroad. Daniel O'Connell, the station agent at Barrytown, and his assistants worked fast to clear out the contents of the building before it caught fire. The freight depot had three carloads of shipments in it, including tobacco worth over $2,000. All of it was moved into freight cars operated in the siding and brought on emergency to Tivoli. A false report in the area stated that O'Connell died in the fire. The freight station was lost in the fire.
The fire kept spreading throughout the western side of Barrytown, taking more buildings down until local steamboats reached Barrytown. The two steamboats, the Jacob H. Tremper from Newburgh and Rob from Kingston, spread lines of hoses from their ships to reduce the fire on the shoreline. The chief engineer of the railroad was notified about the fire and ordered steam trains to help reduce the flames. A nearby steam train was loaded back to Barrytown. A wreck crew on its way to Staatsburg note that company property was in danger and demanded the steamer be sent to Barrytown as soon as possible. They helped the steamships put out the water with their own lines and the railroad's trainmaster sent food and drinks to the firemen. The firemen managed to prevent the passenger station from catching fire in the chaos. In all, 16 buildings in Barrytown burned, causing $78,000 in damage.
Death of Warren Delano IV (1920) Warren Delano IV, the uncle of future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, attended the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, New York on September 9, 1920. Delano took his horse, Bell, to the fairgrounds, where he had planned to show them in a horse show. That evening, he took Bell and its buggy towards his estate in Barrytown, Steen Valetje, filled with a trunk that he would have checked for a guest at his residence. Delano made his way back to Barrytown, where he put his horse at the northeast corner of the depot and went to the ticket office to retrieve the check for the trunk. Locals noted that Delano rarely rode his horse to Barrytown station if he knew an express train was coming due to the concern about disturbing his horse. He thought that his business at the depot would be quick enough to not worry about the oncoming express.
While in the station's ticket office, Delano heard the whistles of an express train that was coming through Barrytown and peered out the window to check on his horse. Having seen his horse disturbed by the train, Delano left the office and jumped onto his horse's buggy while on the platform. Bell pulled at Delano towards the south end of the platform while Delano tried to control his startled mare. However, the horse moved towards the southeast corner of the platform and jumped on the tracks. The oncoming express train nailed the startled horse and killed it instantly. The speed of the train and its impact resulted in the horse's remains climbing the front of the engineer. Bell's body was carted down the tracks. Delano, who was in the buggy at the time of impact, rode along the side of the train. He became dislodged from the slowing express train and he was thrown to a nearby concrete abutment at the nearby bridge over the tracks.
When railroad workmen operating in the Barrytown reached Delano, they found him still in his buggy, which was reduced to a seating platform and parts of the seat he had been in. The wheels of the buggy and its running gear were separated from the main structure in the impact. The workmen raced a still-living Delano back to Barrytown station where they threw him on blankets on the floor. Dr. H.F. Cunningham of Red Hook was called for, but Delano died before the doctor arrived at Barrytown station. Cookingham examined the body of Delano, noting that he had suffered from a fractured spine and bleeding from the forehead. The initial examination did not determine if Delano had fractured his skull. The body of Bell, the horse, was buried on the west side of the tracks by the workmen who rescued Delano after the train stopped. The local corner was called and his body was brought to his estate in Barrytown.
The immediate funeral services for Delano were held on September 12, 1920 at his estate in Barrytown. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then campaigning for the Democratic Party nomination for Vice President of the United States, suspended his campaign activities in New England and traveled to his home in Hyde Park. The private Episcopalian funeral was held there with immediate family. His body was then placed on a train towards Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where the former family homestead was and future services would be held. After the funeral in Barrytown, Franklin Delano Roosevelt returned to campaigning.
Grade crossing debates and closure (1954–1959) In 1954, the railroad petitioned the New York State Public Service Commission to close the Station Hill Road grade crossing alongside the Chelsea station in the town of Wappinger. The Station Hill Road crossing, which was operated manually rather than with electric gates, cost the railroad an average of $4,680 between the crossing and the personnel required to operate it. Rather than operate electric gates, the railroad felt it would save money by just barricading the grade crossing in its entirety. The Red Hook Central School Board of Education showed their opposition at the hearing, stating that school buses operated on a loop on Station Hill Road and Dock Road, resulting in the use of the grade crossing and the bridge to the north. If the grade crossing were to be closed, the buses would be unable to operate in the area due to the lack of a sufficient turnaround point for them. On November 15, 1954, the Public Service Commission denied both request, stating that the Chelsea station had sufficient ridership to justify keeping it open and that the grade crossing was already well protected and no accidents had occurred dating back to 1949.
Despite the denied petition, the railroad wasted no time trying again, with a petition in December 1954 that involved offering a new access road that would connect Station Hill Road and Dock Road and eliminate the grade crossing. A hearing was held February 8, 1955 at the Dutchess County Court House in Poughkeepsie in front of Examiner Gerald Knapp. 15 people attended the hearing, including railroad officials and two lawyers representing the town of Red Hook and the Red Hook Central School District. At the hearing, the railroad offered to build am road on the east side of the tracks that would connect the two streets. This would involve using of railroad property and of private property and cost about $12,500 before the price of property acquisition. With the existing bridge on Dock Road to the north, this new road would make it easier for residents west of the tracks to access Station Hill Road without having to cross the tracks. The three representatives for the railroad stated that it would improve public safety if the new road was built east of the tracks and eliminate the grade crossing. William J. Walsh, one of the attorneys who represented the Red Hook side of the case, stated that he was not opposed to the construction of the road and crossing elimination, but qualified that the bridge on Dock Road must be adequate for the necessary traffic changes. Knapp stated that he would file a report in Albany with the Commission and that they would make a decision.
The Public Service Commission denied the request once again on October 20, 1955. With the town of Red Hook stating that they would not pay for the new road and the railroad stating that problems in land acquisition had come up since the February hearing, the Commission just reaffirmed their opinion from November 1954. The railroad continue to offer that it would offer a new turnaround for buses in return for closing the grade crossing, but it was rejected. Knapp stated in his report that the gates were operated from 6:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. with no protection of the crossing in other hours.