Union Depot (North Canaan, Connecticut)

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Canaan Union Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	North Canaan, Connecticut
Coordinates:	42°1′34″N 73°19′46″W / 42.02611, -73.32944Coordinates: 42°1′34″N 73°19′46″W / 42.02611, -73.32944
Built/Founded:	1872
Architect:	G. H. Bundy
Architectural style(s):	Gothic
Added to NRHP:	1972
NRHP Reference#:	72001317
Governing body:	Connecticut Historical Railroad Association

Union Depot in North Canaan, Connecticut is a former union station. It was built in 1872 at the junction of the Housatonic Railroad and the Central New England Railway.

[edit] Architecture

The station was located at the level junction between the two rail lines, making a right angle right at the crossover. The angle of the building was a 3-story tower, at the top of which sat the electric telegraph operator. The two 90-foot (27-meter) wings of the building were occupied by the two railroad companies, until eventually both became the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and then Penn Central Transportation. The second floor of the station had a large restaurant that was especially important before the development of the dining car. The wooden station also featured a weather vane designed to look like a steam locomotive atop its tower.

[edit] Decline

The station ceased passenger service in 1971, and freight service ended in 1974. The station then became a retail location, with a restaurant in the southeastern wing. When the railroad was reopened as the new Housatonic Railroad in 1980, the station was not repurchased.

More than half of the station — namely the southeast half — was destroyed by an arson late in the evening of October 12, 2001. The Connecticut Railroad Historical Association purchased what was left in 2003, and they have begun to restore it.

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