ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—The viewer steps back more than a century in Englewood with these photos, showing dual angles of the Highwood railroad station.
On May 26, 1859, the first train on the Northern Railroad line came down from Piermont, N.Y., southbound toward Jersey City. Originally Englewood and Closter were our only two local stops on the line, but by the turn of the 20th century there were also busy stations in Tenafly, Cresskill and Demarest, plus two more stops in Englewood—including the one at Highwood.
Highwood has long been the name of the neighborhood in the northern area of Englewood. Its train station was built at Hudson Avenue and Ivy Lane, along with a freight house to the south. When these photos were taken around 1910, the station also served as Highwood’s post office.
The 1900 “History of Bergen County” explains, “The village of Highwood is an extension of the northern part of Englewood, and occupies high level ground. It contains a railroad station, a church, a store, and many beautiful residences.”
Highwood also had its own school, as well as its own fire department (still standing on Ivy Lane as Tom Siracusa’s Highwood Service, an auto repair shop). The station itself is no longer standing.
