Union Hall Street station

Union Hall Street
The facade where Union Hall Street LIRR station used to be, today an entrance to York College (CUNY)
Location Archer Avenue and Union Hall Street
Jamaica, Queens, New York
Coordinates 40°42′10″N 73°47′49″W / 40.70278°N 73.79694°W / 40.70278; -73.79694Coordinates: 40°42′10″N 73°47′49″W / 40.70278°N 73.79694°W / 40.70278; -73.79694
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Line(s) Main Line and Montauk Branch
History
Opened June 24, 1890
Closed 1905 (or 1911), May 20, 1977[1]
Rebuilt 1913,[1] 1929–1931 (Grade elimination)
Electrified August 29, 1905
Previous names New York Avenue
Services
None
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Former services
Jamaica   Main Line and
Montauk Branch		   Canal Street

Union Hall Street was a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line at Union Hall Street at York College in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, United States.

History

A station opened at New York Avenue (now Guy R. Brewer Boulevard) on June 24, 1890, when the local Atlantic Avenue rapid transit trains were extended from Woodhaven Junction through Jamaica to Rockaway Junction.[2] The station was closed in 1905, but in response to complaints about the reopening of Jamaica station on Sutphin Boulevard (primarily because the downtown core of Jamaica was centered on Union Hall Street, the site of "Old Jamaica"), the LIRR opened a new one a block away at Union Hall Street in 1913,[1] when the tracks through Jamaica were grade-separated. Union Hall Street station was built near the site of the "Old Jamaica station," originally at ground level and eventually elevated between 1929 and 1931.

The building of the newer Jamaica station led to commercial development around Sutphin Boulevard and the new station became the primary LIRR station in Jamaica. Eventually Union Hall Street patronage dropped due to its roughly half-mile close proximity to the Sutphin Boulevard-based station. Union Hall closed on May 20, 1977,[1] although in recent years a decorative wall mimicking a station house was placed over the bridge where the former Union Hall Street station used to be.[2] Twelve years after the station closed, the transportation needs in the vicinity of Union Hall Street were compensated with the Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer Subway station two blocks west of the former station, although this was more accurately a replacement for the former 160th Street elevated railroad station a block north on Jamaica Avenue, rather than for the ex-Union Hall Street LIRR station.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Station Closing Not Sad Event" (May 21, 1977). Newsday (Queens/Nassau/Suffolk, NY) via ProQuest Historical Newspapers. May 21, 1977. p. 6. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "LONG ISLAND station HISTORY". trainsarefun.com. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08.
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