PARK RIDGE—Can you remember when Park Ridge looked like this? The photo above goes back to the summer of 1966, and the view looks down the tracks toward Park Avenue.
Of course the old cars (and bus!) are always great to see, but also take note of the logo on the train. In both photos, the trains bear the combined “EL” symbol for “Erie Lackawanna.” The name of the rail line through the Pascack Valley has changed many times since the tracks were laid 150 years ago.
Chartered as the Hackensack and New York Railroad, this later became the New Jersey and New York Railroad, which was purchased by the Erie Railroad in 1896.
A 1960 merger created the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, which we see here. Since the 1980s, the line has belonged to NJ Transit.
Those who grew up around Park Ridge might recognize the brick building that’s partially obscured behind the train station. It’s the old Burroughs Corp., whose large factory stretched south along Broadway from Park Avenue. Its tall smokestack was an iconic part of the Park Ridge streetscape.
Formerly Mittag & Volger, the largest producer of typewriter ribbon and carbon paper in the world in the early 20th century, the business merged with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company in 1949.
After shutting down in the mid-1980s, the factory was razed — today its footprint is the site of a condominium complex.