Eighty-nine years after the last passenger train left Ridgefield Center for Branchville, the station on Prospect Street is coming down (sort of) as part of the reconstruction of the Ridgefield Supply lumberyard.
As of this weekend, the northernmost butterfly platform shed had been removed; the southern shed is still intact though, as is the station itself. This is the original station built by the Danbury & Norwalk when the branch up the hill was constructed in 1869-70, with the platform sheds added at a later date, presumably under NYNH&H ownership since they are of the same pattern as the extant sheds in New Canaan and those formerly at Darien, Westport, Norton Heights, etc.
The Ridgefield Press wrote:Old train depot is too weak to moveFull story here: http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/50952 ... k-to-move/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Ridgefield Historic Society has studied the Victorian train station located on the Ridgefield Supply property downtown and determined that moving it doesn’t appear to be an option.
A revised plan to dismantle and replace the old train depot was given a consensus approval by Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Town Hall Annex. The original plan, approved as part of a expansion plan for Ridgefield Supply, was to move it on the lumber company’s site. That’s been dropped.
“Our biggest issue is we’re going to pick it up and it’s going to fall down,” Margaret Price, proprietor of Ridgefield Supply, told the commission.
As of this weekend, the northernmost butterfly platform shed had been removed; the southern shed is still intact though, as is the station itself. This is the original station built by the Danbury & Norwalk when the branch up the hill was constructed in 1869-70, with the platform sheds added at a later date, presumably under NYNH&H ownership since they are of the same pattern as the extant sheds in New Canaan and those formerly at Darien, Westport, Norton Heights, etc.
