Roslyn Train Station
 
Then: Circa 1910s & Now: 2022
When the Roslyn Rail Road Station was built in 1887, the Roslyn News called it “the handsomest station on the branch”. The Long Island Rail Road restored it in 1922, moved it in the 1960s, and again in 1986. In spite of these changes, its basic structure has been preserved.
However, one renovation did provoke considerable objections from none other than Christopher Morley – the journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet- who did not approve of how the original brick walls had been covered with stucco. His protests were so vehement that when later LIRR president Goodfellow considered moving the station, he said “I can feel the ghost of Christopher Morley breathing over my shoulder.”
The horse and buggy in the 1910 photograph may have belonged to another prominent resident, Clarence Mackay, who commuted from his Harbor Hills mansion to his office in New York City. Mackey must have been a flamboyant fellow, for he is said to like arriving at the station accompanied by a blast of coaching horns.
To propose a location for a “Then & Now: North Hempstead”, please send an email to Town Historian Ross Lumpkin lumpkinr@northhempsteadny.gov.
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