HARRINGTON PARK, N.J.—The photographer looks up LaRoche Avenue toward the railroad station in the image above, snapped in Harrington Park in the early 20th century. LaRoche Avenue was still a dirt lane at the time, and tracks from wagons—and maybe even a couple of early autos—are barely visible on the road. About 300 people lived in Harrington Park in those years between 1900 and 1910.
The borough’s train station is visible in the clearing at the end of the road, at the corner of LaRoche Avenue and Elm Street. The photo below, at left, offers a better view of the station as it would have looked at the time. In the mid-20th century, the old station became the headquarters for the Harrington Park Police Department. After an electrical fire destroyed it in 1986, a new police station was built at the same corner and is still in use today.
LaRoche Avenue is named for Dr. William Tell LaRoche, a dentist and real estate developer, who owned much of the land around this part of town in the 19th century. The map at bottom right centers on the railroad depot in the year 1876 and shows LaRoche’s land holdings in the area around the tracks, which run vertically.
Interestingly, the map also shows an earlier name for the neighborhood around the station back before Harrington Park Borough incorporated, and when it was still a part of larger Harrington Township: “Randell.” The name is alternately seen as “Randall” or “Randall’s” in other documents.