Verona

Verona station was a station on the Caldwell Branch of the Erie Railroad in Verona, New Jersey. The station was originally constructed in 1891 at the intersection of Depot Street and Personette Street by the Caldwell Railway, which was soon merged into the Erie Railroad system. The station burned down twice: the 1891 station depot burned down in 1905, and the second station survived until April 1, 1962, when arsonists destroyed it. However, the freight station built in 1891, a one-room shed, remained standing between both burnings, and although passenger service on the Caldwell Branch ended on October 3, 1966 (and the tracks removed in 1979), the freight station in Verona is the only remaining structure left of the entire line. In 2010, the town of Verona proposed to restore the old freight shed, which stands along the right-of-way as a one-room museum. Also that year, the shed was added as the first of Verona's local landmarks by its historical commission. History Early starts for Verona (1891–1905) The first station at Verona was built in 1891 as one of the original stations on the Caldwell Railway, a short branch line off the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad. When the rail line opened on August 3, 1891, the line served Verona along with Overbrook Hospital (at that point also in Verona) and the neighboring borough of Caldwell. The service on the Caldwell Railway was taken over by the New York & Greenwood Lake in 1896, which was leased by the Erie Railroad a year later. The first station building burned down fourteen years later. The freight station nearby avoided catching fire and did remain in service. When neighboring Caldwell got a new station depot built by the Erie, a team of horses carted the old 1891 station depot through the snow to Verona and installed it as the new station. The relocated station building was a one-story wooden batten depot.