East Paterson was a former commuter railroad train station in the borough of East Paterson (renamed Elmwood Park in 1973), Bergen County, New Jersey. East Paterson station serviced freight and passenger trains of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway between the eponymous station in Butler to Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City (until December 12, 1958) and Susquehanna Transfer in North Bergen until June 30, 1966. The station contained a single low-level side platform and a wooden frame depot on the north side of the tracks.
Train service through Saddle River Township began on April 8, 1871 with the opening of the New Jersey Midland Railroad to Pompton Township. At that time, the railroad established a station at Dundee Lake near the Passaic River. Dundee Lake became its own municipality on April 18, 1916 and the station retained that name until October 15, 1928, when the railroad changed it to East Paterson, despite the municipality becoming East Paterson in April 1916. After the discontinuation of passenger service on June 30, 1966, the station sat unused until October 13, 1969, when it caught fire. The depot came down that November.
Station layout and services Side platform, station depotOutbound← New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway weekdays toward Butler (Vreeland Avenue)Inbound New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway weekdays toward Susquehanna Transfer (Passaic Junction) →
East Paterson station contained two tracks for the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway along with a single side platform. The wooden frame station depot contained four separate rooms of various dimensions. At the west end of the building was the freight office with a rectangular design. The next room was one of the two waiting rooms with an design. The waiting room was rectangular save for a small area to the east end which surrounded the agent's office. The waiting room on the east side of the depot also contained the unique design. The agents office was , containing a half-hexagon bay window jutting out from the front of the depot. East Paterson station also contained a separate closet and a separate freight platform at the freight room.
At the end of passenger service on June 30, 1966, East Paterson station served six of the seven trains on weekdays only. Three of these trains were to Susquehanna Transfer station in North Bergen, where connections were available by bus to Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. Trains 906 and 916, arriving at 6:44 a.m. and 8:04 a.m., stopped at East Paterson, but train 910 did not. Service westbound to Butler station included four trains stopping at East Paterson: train 915 at 1:55 p.m., train 921 (a train only to North Hawthorne) at 5:31 p.m., train 929 at 6:07 p.m., and train 931 at 6:50 p.m.
History The New York and Oswego Midland Railroad opened the New Jersey Midland Railway through Bergen County on April 8, 1871, when they began service between Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, Hudson County and Pompton Township in Passaic County. A depot was built in Saddle River Township near the Passaic River, named Dundee Lake. The depot contained a single platform with expansive views of the river. At the time of opening, the station had six trains in each direction.
In May 1889, Dundee Lake station became the chosen site of a new horse racing track in the area. The Coates family of Goshen, New York, were prominent horse racing and breeding enthusiasts and arranged to acquire property owned by Hartman Van Riper on May 29 for the track. With no track within a short distance of New York, the Coates family felt that the Van Riper site was perfectly level for horse racing and there was no risk for serious horse injuries given the marshy soil in the area. As part of the construction, the Susquehanna would build a new switch for the horse track. Articles of incorporation were filed with Saddle River Township in August, and the new race track opened on October 9, 1889.
However, the race track turned into a major financial disaster for the Coates. By 1890, a local judge ordered horse racing stopped at the new facility. The next year, George Engeman, who owned the race track in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, purchased the facility from the Coates with the hope that the local Democratic Party officials would take control and allow horse racing to occur. This did not occur and the racetrack foreclosed. However, the property moved into the control of a company and helped instigate more construction in the area. The company broke up the land of the race track in favor of multiple tracts to build houses. Two houses were built by March 1902, with four more under construction. A house of worship and a new school were also built.
The growing community resulted in talk the railroad considered replacing the station depot with a new one.
"Out of Order" (1903–1912) The Susquehanna Railroad closed the station depot to the public in 1903, hanging a sign stating "out of order". Local opposition to this grew by March 1906, stated that the shuttered depot was harming development in the Dundee Lake area. Among listed problems caused by the decision included that land owners were facing higher tax values as the railroad would not be paying taxes. This would in addition, make living in Dundee Lake much more expensive compared to nearby communities. They also stated there was concerns about prospective buyers not coming in due to the higher expenses, stagnating the community's growth. They felt that the residents should take some action to help get the station open if there was no state law that would force the railroad re-open the depot.
By April 1906, a clearer version of the disrepair of Dundee Lake station appeared in the Bergen Evening Record. The closed depot had all its windows boarded, the door at the east end of the depot forced open, holes in the roof, and the waiting room floor collapsing because of cement stored on the wooden floor. The Erie Railroad put up a new sign stating to not look at the station conditions long. Another one stated that they should not look in the windows. Local citizens continued to put in complaints about the depot's abhorrent condition. They wanted action from the railroad, stating that it would not cost the railroad much financially to repair and reinstate the depot. They felt that the getting the depot in order and hiring a station agent would increase ridership to Dundee Lake, raising profit for the company. Some citizens did not agree, stating that the Boulevard signal station operator could double as the station agent and they could move the wires operating the junction to the depot. They also wanted a telegraph instituted in the new depot. The newspaper published a petition to the Erie Railroad in the April 1906 columns, stating it had been signed by the majority of citizens. The railroad removed the "Out of Order" sign after pressure from the newspaper.
After complaints, the Erie Railroad sent people to work in January 1907 to repair the depot. A new floor replaced the one crushed by cement, the windows replaced and hole-free, a new waterproof roof, along with a new stove placed in the depot. They also repainted the station in the interior and exterior. The renovated Dundee Lake depot would have two waiting rooms, one for women and one for men, along with a freight and baggage room at the west end of the building. A new agent would be operating at Dundee Lake station as of January 15, 1907. The railroad stated, that the sudden renovations was not due to the complaints by citizens, but a jump in freight business overloading the agent at Vreeland Avenue station in Paterson. A new dye house being built at Dundee Lake also would raise traffic for both passengers and freight as the new mill would hire 300–400 people and require 20 loads of coal daily to operate. The new dye house would likely open in early February.
However, the depot renovation and the new dye house meant an uptick in citizen moods and business in the Dundee Lake area. New houses were being built and rent for other properties went up, expecting the extra business. Because of the station depot's poor condition, several real estate deals fell through and real estate agents reported an uptick in business with the expected changes.
The renovations led to extreme growth in the Dundee Lake area and by November 1912, business, up 700 percent from rates in 1892, outgrew the baggage/freight room at the west end of the depot. A local company has been handling the growing cement, grain, coal and hay business. The dye house also grew significantly. Locals at the Dundee Lake Board of Trade stated that the station back in 1892 had an individual freight house for those services that could have better handled the increased business. However, the railroad was using the former freight room as a storage area for maintenance crews. The Board of Trade stated that there was major inconvenience for operators to have to use other stations in the area for their freight shipments. The Board of Trade made a committee to ask the railroad to help rectify the situation and expected a quick resolution.
A meeting with the railroad officials had to be postponed until the first week of December 1912. However, there was local concern about the possibility the community was looking at eliminating the job of Mazie Wilcox, the station agent. Theodore Chamberlain, a local coal executive felt that with the construction of a freight department, Wilcox would be fired and that someone strong enough to handle boxes and barrels would take over the job. Despite being told that the Vreeland Avenue agent did very little lifting in their position, Chamberlain changed his reasoning. This time Chamberlain stated that he was not charging them with doing that, but that Vreeland Avenue was so simple, then Mazie Wilcox would be able to do the job herself. The committees did not deny that Wilcox could be capable of doing her job and endorsed Wilcox for the freight agency.
From Dundee Lake to East Paterson (1916–1928) Assemblyman John Ackerman, Jr. brought a bill to the floor in February 1916 for the incorporation of Dundee Lake as the borough of East Paterson. John B. Zabriskie, a resident of Wyckoff, had been the impetus for the bill, as he represented local industries, who wanted out of Saddle River Township. Despite being the one introducing the bill, Ackerman stated he opposed his own production, saying it should be up to the people. Assemblyman Caleb Pancoast of Camden was upset that Ackerman opposed his own bill. As a result, Ackerman asked that the voting be suspended. Despite objections, the Assembly Speaker stopped voting and noted that it was unlikely the bill would pass. J.D. Post, a Committeeman for the Bergen County Republican Party, stated that he opposed any further progress on the bill. As a result of the fracas in the Assembly, officials on February 29 called for a meeting and hearing to be held on March 4 at the Social Circle clubhouse near the local school in Dundee Lake. Local Bergen County legislators would be present for the hearing, of which they invited those who supported and opposed the incorporation. Despite the hearing, the bill came again on March 1 and passed the State Assembly, including Ackerman's vote of support.
Opposition was minimal at the March 4 meeting. With the high enthusiasm, the 51 people at the meeting passed resolutions endorsing the new bill for the creation of East Paterson, which would eat part of Saddle River Township from Warren Point to the Passaic River to Garfield.