Breaking news
Jack Trowill, train expert and curator of the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, announced that BSRM has closed and is now the proud owner of the Stockbridge Train Station. It is nice that it will be preserved and just maybe used once more as a train station.
The railroad to Stockbridge
According to “Stockbridge 1739 -1839,” as early as 1826, approximately 20 years before the train came to Stockbridge, Theodore Sedgwick of Stockbridge raised the money to survey a possible railroad route from Stockbridge to the Connecticut River Valley. Why that route? Many of the original settlers in Stockbridge came from the Connecticut River Valley.
The route Sedgwick proposed started in West Stockbridge and proceeded through Stockbridge, Lee, Becket, Otis and Blandford. Survey complete, the following year he proposed a bill to the Massachusetts Legislature to provide the funds to build that route. The bill did not pass but did open the discussion. That discussion spawned a dozen proposals for various routes and different ways and means through and around rivers and hills. For example, the first proposals included stretches where the train would be pulled by horses as well as miles it would be propelled by steam.
Had the original route been adopted, growth in South County might have looked very different. In the 19th century, development followed the train tracks. It is possible, therefore, that Otis and Becket would have been larger than Great Barrington. The first railroad actually built opened in 1837. It went from West Stockbridge to Hudson, New York, bypassing Stockbridge.
According to Trowill, “The industrialists and merchants of Lenox, Lee and Stockbridge were quite upset that the first Housatonic Railroad line bypassed their towns, so they formed the Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railroad that was immediately leased to the Housatonic Railroad.”
The Pittsfield & Stockbridge line was routed from Pittsfield through Lenox and Lee to Stockbridge. It was chartered in 1847 and opened Jan. 25, 1850, to a triumphant celebration. Stands were built to hold 5,000 attendees; bunting was hung, and speeches of blessing and congratulations were given. One of the points of pride was that the train trip from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Pittsfield only took eight hours. The line operated until March 28, 1898.
It is interesting that, as train tracks connected the nation in the 50 years between 1847 and 1898, small manufactories could not compete with the larger ones. Far from encouraging growth of business and population in Stockbridge, competition with industry in far-flung places closed what passed for industry in Stockbridge and opened the door to tourism and “permanent summer residents.”
According to Trowill, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, commonly known as the New Haven, operated from March 29, 1898, to Jan. 1, 1968. The New Haven was followed by the Penn Central Railroad, which operated until April 1, 1976.
An example of a trip taken from Trowill’s notes: “1891, July 9: Housatonic RR -Berkshire Hills Limited Express — one train per week in each direction to Grand Central Terminal via South Norwalk. Time to New York City: 4 hours. Leave New York City: 3:30 p.m. 7 Stops.”
History of the Stockbridge Station
The first Stockbridge Station was built circa 1849. It stood in the same location as the one today. “It was built in the then-conventional railroad station design,” according to Trowill, “similar to one still standing in Housatonic.”
In 1881, the Annual Report of the Laurel Hill Association noted that the state required a new station be built. In 1883, the Laurel Hill Association reported that new station was complete and was a “better structure.” Sadly, nine years later this improved structure was destroyed by fire. A temporary wooden structure was erected, and plans began to hire an architect for a third Stockbridge Station. Laurel Hill requested it be a stone structure less vulnerable to fire.
On Nov. 30, 1893, architect Frank Waller submitted plans. The Gothic Revival building was built of blue dolomite stone. The stone construction pleased Laurel Hill Association — a good thing, as it was a partial funder. The structure built reminiscent but not exactly to the plan stands today.
The station was closed by the New Haven line in 1963. Two years later it was a night club when it caught fire and the interior was gutted. In January 1968, when the Penn Central RR took over the line from New Haven, it was again a train station. The interior was reconstructed and it remained in operation as a train station until April 30, 1971. That day, Penn Central RR terminated passenger service on the Berkshire Line.
From Rick Selva who was on the last train, recorded Sept. 23, 2007: “The last train from New York City to Pittsfield was Penn Central Train No. 144/142 on Friday night, April 30, 1971 … the crew was Pete McLachlan, engineer, and Nick LaCava, conductor. I rode this train from Housatonic to Pittsfield.”
Since then the history of the station is a series of adaptive reuses. For example, in the 1970s-80s, it was John Henry’s Restaurant. At times it was empty, but at other times, it housed events. Many people have memories of good times at the station.
In 1997, Jack and Jane Fitzpatrick’s charitable High Meadow Foundation purchased it. High Meadow Foundation refurbished it. Jack was a member of the BSRM board of directors and, with Lenox Station, it served as one of the two stops on the wonderful train rides we all took.
The station was placed on National Register of Historic Places as part of Elm, Maple, and South Streets Historic District. In 2015. It was leased by the High Meadow Foundation to BSRM. This year the purchase to the BSRM is complete. It will ensure the preservation of this attractive historic building and it raises high hopes that those charming train rides from Lenox Station to Stockbridge Station will resume.
