HILLSDALE, N.J.—Hillsdale’s railroad station at Broadway and Hillsdale Avenue is a focal point of the community, an important piece of local history, and a landmark that even appears on the borough seal. But did you know that at one time Hillsdale had a second train station?
The railroad depot pictured above served a part of town called Hillsdale Manor. Constructed of wood and fieldstone, with a rounded entrance and black turret, it stood along the tracks close to the intersection of Broadway and Parkview Avenue.
This photo dates from the early 20th century. Three posters are visible on the station: the largest one on the left is for Wrigley’s Spearmint gum, the middle one encourages new advertisers, and the rightmost poster pushes Piso’s cough syrup, a purported “cure” for tuberculosis that counted among its ingredients cannabis, alcohol and chloroform.
The Manor section of Hillsdale, at its peak from the late 1880s to the 1910s, was a popular vacation resort for the wealthy from New York City. Isolated from greater Hillsdale by an untouched forest landscape, Hillsdale Manor had its own distinct personality. It was a town within a town—an enclave of mansions with its own train station, stores, hotels and newspaper.
The Manor encompassed lands in northeastern Hillsdale, between Lincoln Avenue to the north, Knickerbocker and Piermont avenue to the south, Broadway to the west and St. Mary’s and Raymond streets to the east.
Beyond being a rail stop for well-heeled vacationers, the Manor station was also the site of the newly formed Township of Hillsdale’s first-ever election in April of 1898. Six days after the election, Hillsdale’s governing body held its first meeting there. The old station was torn down in the late 1940s.
