Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Transportation

Location

4 Southfield Ave, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522, USA

Lat/Long

41.012256, -73.849998

Grant Recipient

Ardsley Historical Society

Operating from 1880 until 1958, the Ardsley Station made travel to-and-from New York City easier, linking the village of Ardsley with the City. The Ardsley Station saw not only the transportation of people and goods, but of information as well. As described in the Ardsley 100th Anniversary Journal, Western Union telegrams arrived there providing updates for the growing Ardsley community and conveying news from around the nation, including results of political races and sporting events.

Service from the New York City and Northern Railroad began in 1880 immediately after construction of the station was finished. Originally named the Ashford Station, the village changed its name from Ashford to Ardsley in 1883, effectively changing the name of the station as well. Historians note that due to the ability to commute to work in New York City, Ardsley’s population increased significantly: in 1900 the census recorded a population of 404 people in the village of Ardsley, and by the time the station closed in the 1950s the population was at 1,744 villagers. As early as 1881 an article in The Yonkers Statesman notes, “active movements near the new depot,” and that the “natural and future growth of population must be in this direction.” This growing population changed Ardsley from a primarily rural community into a residential one.

In 1894 the Ardsley Station became a part of the New York Central Putnam Division. The last passenger trains travelled through the station in 1958, ending seventy-eight years of service for the Ardsley Station.