Central Railroad Of New Jersey Station

Constructed in 1868, the Central Railroad of New Jersey Station was designed by the firm of Wilson Brothers of Philadelphia. It is a brick one and one-half story building, five bays in length with a three and one-half story cylindrical tower. Once considered one of the finest passenger stations on the Jersey central line, the main mass of the station is covered by a gable roof and supported by brackets, with two gabled dormers on either side, double chimneys at either end, and a large wooden cupola which dominates the building. Work began on what was then the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad as early as 1838. By 1843, the first passenger train came in over the Ashley Planes, but it was not until 1866 when the backtrack from Mountaintop to Wilkes-Barre was completed, eliminating the need for the Planes, that the first passenger train arrived in Wilkes-Barre on its own steam. With the discontinuance of passenger service in 1963, the station began to deteriorate, and on March 31, 1972, 106 years to the day the Jersey Central had begun its operation of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Division, the station was officially closed.