Cornwall Bridge station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station
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View of south facing elevation; 31 March 31, 2012
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Location | Junction of Poppleswamp Brook Road and Kent Road, Cornwall, Connecticut |
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Architectural style | Stick/Eastlake |
NRHP reference No. | 72001313 |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1972 |
Cornwall Bridge station is a former train station in Cornwall, Connecticut.
History
The station, a Stick style wood frame structure was built by the Housatonic Railroad between 1865 and 1875 and as with the rest of the railroad was acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1892. The New Haven Railroad was acquired by Penn Central Railroad in 1969, which went bankrupt by 1970. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1972 as Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station.
Penn Central auctioned the station in 1971 and the bid was won by Marion and David Williams of Amherst, Massachusetts. The Williamses hired Wheatogue Services, a local contractor, to restore the building structurally, and match the original exterior paint colors. In the process of scraping old paint, the original Cornwall Bridge sign letters on the south side of the station were uncovered from under years of paint. The recent owners have changed the exterior paint colors and painted over the original sign.
The Williamses also replaced the decomposed slate roof with an antique pressed metal roof commonly used during the 19th century. They researched and found the original metal presses in a warehouse in Texas and had a metal company manufacture the roof. Since then the pressed metal roof has become popular in other restoration projects ranging from homes to barns.
The Cornwall Bridge station was used as the Williams' weekend home until 1985 and was sold to a New York City film producer. It has changed ownership several times since.