Garden City (LIRR station)

Garden City
The two station houses of Garden City's Long Island Rail Road Station, looking east.
Location	Seventh Street Garden City, New York
Coordinates	40°43′23″N 73°38′24″W / 40.723136°N 73.64007°WCoordinates: 40°43′23″N 73°38′24″W / 40.723136°N 73.64007°W
Owned by	MTA
Line(s)	Hempstead Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	Nassau Inter-County Express: n40/n41
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Bike Rack
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	4
History
Opened	1872 (CRRLI)
Rebuilt	1898
Electrified	May 26, 1908 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	1,401[1]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Nassau Boulevard toward New York terminals Hempstead Branch Country Life Press toward Hempstead Current and former locations Nassau Boulevard station Central Branch Washington Street station

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 located 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

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.^[2] 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 new version of the station had eyebrow porch windows along the roof, and also had trolley connections to Mineola-Freeport branch of the New York and Long Island Traction Company. A pedestrian tunnel was added in 1915,^[3] 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 sometime 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 located 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.

Platforms and tracks

1	■ Hempstead Branch	toward New York (Nassau Boulevard)
2	■ Hempstead Branch	toward Hempstead (Country Life Press)

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long. The north platform, next to Track 1, is generally used by westbound or New York City-bound trains. The south platform, next to Track 2, is generally used by eastbound or Hempstead-bound trains. There are two tracks here.

References

1. Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
2. 1879 Garden City Station (Unofficial LIRR Website)
3. Bob Emery Hempstead Branch to Garden City Map; 1959 (TrainsAreFun.com)

External links

• Media related to Garden City (LIRR station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Official LIRR station information page for Garden City
• Station timetable for Garden City
• Garden City Station History (Arrt's Arrchives)
• Unofficial Long Island Railroad History Website
  • 1999 Photos of Westbound and Eastbound station houses
  • 2006 Post-restoration of both station houses
• Station House from Google Maps Street View
• GARDEN Interlocking (The LIRR Today)

A bust of Alexander Turney Stewart in the parking lot.