Abandoned train station upstate New York

Rouses Point Railroad Station, Rouses Point New York

Date added: June 06, 2023 Categories: New York Train Station

At the northeast corner of the State of New York, on the west bank of Lake Champlain adjacent to the International Boundary between the United States and Canada, is situated the Village of Rouses Point. Named after its first permanent white settler, Captain Jacques Rouse, the community has long been famous as a "Border Port" and gateway for trade and commerce between Canada and the Eastern United States. The lands in and about Rouses Point were established as the Canadian and Nova Scotia Refugee Tract and were granted to the soldiers who came from Canada and Nova Scotia to fight on the side of the American Colonists during the Revolution. Most of the soldiers sold their grants to land speculators, who then sold them to settlers.

Steam tugs with long strings of canal boats and the fast passenger vessels were being cleared through Customs in ever-increasing numbers when, on October 1, 1850, the first regular railroad train arrived at Rouses Point over the Northern Railroad (later the Rutland) from Ogdensburg, NY. Soon Canada's first railroad was extended from St. Johns to Rouses Point. On August 26, 1851, the first train from LaPrairie (Montreal) arrived at Rouses Point via St. Johns on the Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, thereby inaugurating service on the first international railway in North America. Continued railroad construction eventually caused the decline of water-borne traffic. The complete rail line from Albany was opened a year after the section from Whitehall to Port Henry, and the first regular train rolled into a jubilant Plattsburgh, New York on November 29, 1875. By using the tracks of the former Montreal & Plattsburgh to Mooers Junction, and then 12 miles of the Ogdensburgh & Lake Champlain line east from that point, through service was opened on the same day to Rouses Point. There a connection was made with the Grand Trunk Railway for Montreal. By 1920, Rouses Point became the hub of a rail transportation system going north, south, east and west. It was served by six railroads and was the crossroads of all rail traffic going into the United States and Canada.

The Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company was one of six railroad lines that ran through the Village of Rouses Point. The other lines were Napierville Junction, Canadian National, Central Vermont, Rutland, and Canada Atlantic. Prior to the establishment of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in Rouses Point, the company had a long-standing relationship with the village as the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, which had been operating in the village since the 1850s.

The Rouses Point Station was built in 1889 by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company. It is one of the few remaining stations in the region that was designed and built by the Delaware & Hudson, which in its early years did its own design and construction. Unlike the earlier generation of more modest frame train stations, many of the late 19" century stations built by the Delaware & Hudson were architectural statements and reflected the popular styles of the day. The Rouses Point Station is an impressive building designed in the popular Richardsonian Romanesque style. A likely factor in choosing this imposing style for the station at Rouses Point was because Rouses Point was (and still is) a busy Port of Customs for the international border between the United States and Canada. For example, passenger service clearing through Customs in December 1928 included 4 sections with 38 Pullman and 636 passengers. On the return trip on January 1, 1929, 939 passengers passed through Customs in Rouses Point.

Throughout the first half of the 20^th century, the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Station played a very important role in the commercial and passenger service of the area heading north, south, east, or west. There was a time when at least 20 trains passed through Rouses Point on any given day. Trains known as milk train, butter train, grain train, lumber, train, coal train, car train, mail car, express, paper train, freight, ammunition train (during World War II), and passenger service for businessmen, vacationers, and military servicemen during the war are all part of the D&H heritage. Large amounts of cargo were transported over these rails, including mail cars on practically every passenger train, which provided employment for two men working continuously handling mail and packages. The passenger train also carried a sleeper car going to and from Montreal each night. President Truman was among some of the dignitaries that passed through Rouses Point, along with King Edward and Queen Elizabeth, and England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Stories are that one of the passenger trains would wait until the hockey game was finished in Montreal so the players could board the train to return to the United States or play their next game. Many a serviceman from the Northern Tier left from this Delaware & Hudson station to serve their country during both World War I and World War II.

With the economic boom after the war more and more people obtained their own automobiles, and passenger service declined on railroads throughout the country. The Delaware & Hudson Railroad service suffered immensely when Interstate highways and truck transportation came into play. For several years prior to 1960, the Delaware & Hudson had attempted to discontinue the local passenger train service between Albany and Rouses Point but was rebuffed each time by the Public Service Commission. Finally, in July of 1960, the Commission conceded, and the eight local trains north of Albany were discontinued, leaving only the express trains, the Laurentian and the Montreal Limited, serving Rouses Point.

In the early 1970s, the Delaware & Hudson consolidated its freight services office into the Rouses Point Station and the station was remodeled. Dropped ceilings were installed and partitions were erected to make several offices, including one for the U.S. Customs Service. In 1988, the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, the nation's oldest continually operating railroad, and one that played a major part in the region's development and prosperity throughout the better part of the 20^th century, declared bankruptcy. In 1992, the defunct company was purchased by Canadian Pacific Rail Ltd., which continues to own and operate the active tracks along the west side of the station.

Although the station at Rouses Point is no longer used for passenger service, it is still an active passenger stop for the two daily Amtrak "Adirondack" trains going north into Canada and returning to the United States. Several Canadian Pacific freight trains still make daily runs through Rouses Point. The United States Customs still conducts inspection of passengers in this immediate area to clear customs.

Building Description

The Rouses Point Railroad Station, formerly the Delaware & Hudson Station, occupies approximately two-tenths of an acre on Pratt Street in the northern edge of the village of Rouses Point, Clinton County, New York. Rouses Point is located in the northeast corner of New York State in the town of Champlain, which is the northernmost town of Clinton County. The village is situated on the west bank of Lake Champlain, adjacent to the International Boundary between the United States and Canada. The area, which is considered to be at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, is relatively flat with views of the Green Mountains of Vermont across the lake. This small village has a population of just over 2300 residents, a number that has remained constant for many years.

Constructed in 1889 on the site of the original Delaware Hotel, which burned in 1882, the Rouses Point Railroad Station reflects a Richardsonian Romanesque inspiration. This station is one of a few remaining stations that was designed and built by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad during its formative years. The station is a one-story, hipped roof, brick building with wide, bracketed, overhanging eaves, a full-length covered passenger platform, and oversized Syrian arched door and window openings on its main facade (east). It also features a slate roof, roof dormers, and a round tower with round-arched windows and conical roof on its south elevation. The main block of the building measures 23' wide and 75' 8" long, and two brick chimneys pierce its roof. On the north end of the building there is a c.1970 one-story, clapboard-sided addition (23'9" long and 19'4" wide) with an asphalt shingle roof.

The interior of the station is comprised of a ticket office, baggage room (containing scales to weigh the luggage), telegraphy and ticket agent area, mail area, two waiting areas known as men's waiting room and women's waiting room, as well as a men's bathroom and women's bathroom on the south end of the building in the turrets. In the early 1970s, Delaware & Hudson consolidated its freight services office into the Rouses Point Station and the building was remodeled with dropped ceilings and partitions for offices, both of which can be reversed, revealing the original spatial arrangement finishes. Although the interior of the station is deteriorated and has been subjected to some modifications, it retains much of its original historic character and fabric, such as beaded board finishes, paneled doors, door and window trim, and other original finishes.

Additionally, the Rouses Point Railroad Station retains its historic setting, with the tracks running in front of it still in use. Although the building is no longer used for passenger service, several Canadian Pacific freight trains and two Amtrak passenger service trains still run through Rouses Point daily. The station is a stopping point for all Amtrak passenger trains going north into Canada and returning to the United States. The United States Customs Service still conducts customs inspections of passengers in this immediate area. Canadian Pacific freight trains passing through Rouses Point also make frequent stops in what is presently known as the North and South yards.

The Village of Rouses Point recently became owner of the station, and hopes to restore the building to its original state as much as possible.