1950's station relocations on Harlem Div.

In the 50's there were two very sizable station relocations coupled with grade crossing eliminations on the Harlem: Mt. Kisco (1955 - 56?) and couple of years later Pleasantville (1958-59?). I have a couple of question about where the stations were previously.

Pleasantville: I am told that fieldstone building (which has had several reincarnations at a restaurant) sits right at its original location. After being moved during the construction it was put back. Is that right?

Mount Kisco: This has clearly been moved considerably. Was it originally on the corner of Kirby Plaza and East Main St., i.e., right across from Chase Bank? Or farther south on Kirby Plaza, sort of directly west of its current location?

I never had any personal contact with the Harlem Div. until the 1960's --- except at Brewster, where my dad took me to a few times in the early 50's to see steam in action (We lived in Danbury CT, which the New Haven had dieselized before my train-watching days, when I was still in a playpen. (I remember that Harlem steam as if it were yesterday even though it was nearly 70 years ago!)

TCurtin wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:32 am In the 50's there were two very sizable station relocations coupled with grade crossing eliminations on the Harlem: Mt. Kisco (1955 - 56?) and couple of years later Pleasantville (1958-59?). I have a couple of question about where the stations were previously.

Pleasantville: I am told that fieldstone building (which has had several reincarnations at a restaurant) sits right at its original location. After being moved during the construction it was put back. Is that right?

Mount Kisco: This has clearly been moved considerably. Was it originally on the corner of Kirby Plaza and East Main St., i.e., right across from Chase Bank? Or farther south on Kirby Plaza, sort of directly west of its current location?

I never had any personal contact with the Harlem Div. until the 1960's --- except at Brewster, where my dad took me to a few times in the early 50's to see steam in action (We lived in Danbury CT, which the New Haven had dieselized before my train-watching days, when I was still in a playpen. (I remember that Harlem steam as if it were yesterday even though it was nearly 70 years ago!)

Based on the 1917 valuation diagrams I have, it looks like the Mount Kisco station building was about 150 feet WSW of its current location, about the same distance from East Main St as it currently is.

Using the same source, I would venture to say that the only direction the Pleasantville station (or at least the platform) moved was vertically, although it's hard to say because the road that crossed the tracks at the station itself (Rebecca Ave) no longer exists. However, the relationship between the station building today and the slight bends in Wheeler Ave looks about the same in the 1917 map.

Joshua

Thank you—-that’s very interesting. BTW I assume you mean “Mt Kisco. was moved 150 feet WSW to its current location” (not “WSW of,” which, given the topography would have been impossible, or so it seems). In fact, I just found on p. 345 of the book “The Coming of the New York and Harlem” a photo of that move —— I guess —- about to take place.

Also, I enjoyed the comment about Pleasantville. I would never have guessed there would have been a Rebecca Ave. there.

Thank you
Tom

TCurtin wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 5:52 pm Thank you—-that’s very interesting. BTW I assume you mean “Mt Kisco. was moved 150 feet WSW to its current location” (not “WSW of,” which, given the topography would have been impossible, or so it seems). In fact, I just found on p. 345 of the book “The Coming of the New York and Harlem” a photo of that move —— I guess —- about to take place.

Also, I enjoyed the comment about Pleasantville. I would never have guessed there would have been a Rebecca Ave. there.

Thank you
Tom

Actually, on the direction of the Mt. Kisco station move I should have said the old location was 150 feet ESE of the current one. All I can plead is tiredness from doing yardwork for most of the day - I should know the difference between East and West by now...

The information about the street names in Pleasantville came straight from the valuation map. It looks like Rebecca Ave was just south of where Manville Rd is now, since the station was at the intersection.

FWIW, if you're looking for even more information on the Pleasantville grade separation project, there was a multi-page article including about two dozen photos covering it in the 2nd Quarter 2017 issue of the NYCSHS Headlight.

Joshua

Thank you again! I'll be sure to get that issue of Headlight. (2017 was before I was a member of NYCSHS).
I was in Mt. Kisco again yesterday and tried to picture what the area around the station used to look like.

Tom

Was Mt Kisco freight house a separate bldg? was that where the team track was also located?
All I remember was that vacant asphalt lot with no access point except thru the Halstead-Quinn lot and office site

Can't comment on the location of the MT. Kisco freight house but it would be interesting to know

I got the Headlights issue containing the Pleasantville article. Very interesting!! I see it contains a number of photos from the Westchester County Historical Society. They must have a large photo library. (As you guys can probably surmise I live in Westchester)

Tom

Well folks, I just acquired the book --- published last year --- From Gotham to the Berkshires - New York Central's Harlem Division by John Ham. It contains many good photos from every era. And wouldn't you know, one is a 1954 aerial photo of the station area in Mt. Kisco before any relocation was done. Get it if you're a Harlem aficionado.

(I have to say that the photo captions need some work on accuracy)

If you're wondering, the author isn't the TV star from Mad Men --- different spelling!

Where did you find that book??

You can get it here:
https://nycshs.3dcartstores.com/From-Go ... _1306.html

mackdave

I got it from Ron's Books [www.ronsbooks.com]. Quick and reliable service

Thanks much gents.