Asbury Park station

Asbury Park is an NJ Transit railway station in Asbury Park, in Monmouth County, New ​Jersey, United States. It is served by trains on the North Jersey Coast Line. It is located ​along Cookman Avenue between Main Street and Memorial Drive. The current Asbury ​Park station is one of two original Asbury Park stations on the line. The North Asbury ​Park station still exists, but is no longer a station stop; the former station was located at ​the Sunset Avenue crossing.

Railroad service into Asbury Park began in 1875 with the construction of an extension of ​the New York and Long Branch Railroad (NY&LB), a subsidiary of the Central Railroad of ​New Jersey and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The NY&LB began as a railroad between ​Elizabethport (in Elizabeth, Union County) to Long Branch, finished in 1875. The railroad ​was extended through the city of Asbury Park on August 25. However, the station at ​Asbury Park was built on land donated by the Ocean Grove Campmeeting Association, a ​part of the Methodist Church. The new station was built for the purposes of serving both ​Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. However, the railroad obeyed the request of the ​Campmeeting Association that trains could not stop within the city of Asbury Park on ​Sundays due to religious requirements, despite the fact that the Asbury Park–Ocean ​Grove station produced the most revenue of any station on the line.

The Asbury Park–Ocean Grove station from a 1908 postcard.

The railroad made an agreement with the Campmeeting Association on May 5, 1883, for ​the Sunday services. An amendment was made to this deal on June 1, 1889, that kept ​trains from stopping at North Asbury Park station. This led to the construction of a new ​station at Interlaken and Loch Arbour. Construction of the new station at Interlaken ​began in August 1889, with a projected cost of $10,000 (1889 USD). Timber and staking ​came by August 27. Construction of the station at Interlaken finished and opened in late-​June 1890. As a result of the new station at Interlaken, North Asbury Park station was ​closed by the railroad on November 23, 1890, despite please to keep it open. Passengers ​started using the Asbury Park station instead of the new depot at Interlaken, however. ​However, a new station opened at North Asbury Park in July 1892 at the cost of $8,000.

A new agreement was signed between the railroad and the Campmeeting Association on ​August 1, 1904. This allowed Sunday service to begin at North Asbury Park station. The ​station at North Asbury Park getting Sunday service led to the discontinuance of the ​Interlaken station. In July 1911, the railroad applied to the Public Service Commission to ​begin Sunday service at the downtown Asbury Park station. On October 10, 1911, ​despite pleas from the Campmeeting Association, the commission filed in favor of the ​railroad, feeling it was not furnishing proper service by forcing trains to skip Asbury Park ​station on Sundays. The order was to take effect on November 1, 1911. Ocean Grove ​handed the railroad its rights to the Asbury Park depot and its surrounding land on ​March 3, 1912.

Construction of a new depot in Asbury Park began on the morning of February 8, 1922. ​This concluded 40 years of pressuring the New York and Long Branch to build a new ​depot in the city because the old depot could not handle the amount of traffic coming in ​and out of Asbury Park. Workers moved all the functions into the south end of the older ​depot on February 8 to allow for construction to begin.This station depot, a majestic ​replacement over the original, opened on November 2, 1922. The new depot, of brick and ​reinforced concrete, cost $200,000 (1922 USD). This new depot was 20 by 30 feet (6.1 m ​× 9.1 m) large with a grand chandelier in the depot. The depot was symmetrically ​designed on both sides. A local editorial piece in the Asbury Park Evening Press noted ​that the city should be proud of the new depot. However, there was still concern that ​the depot was not large enough to handle the expected amount of business, which ​proved to be true for several decades after its construction.

As the New York and Long Branch Railroad began to deteriorate due to the advent of the ​Garden State Parkway, the station deteriorated with it. The railroad painted the depot in ​1962. Six ticket windows opened with the station, and eventually it was reduced to just ​one. Conrail, who took over in 1976, looked to sell off depots.The railroad offered the ​depot for the city to use. Asbury Park preferred to demolish the station and replace it ​with a new municipal complex, which would cost $2.3 million. $1.5 million of that total ​would come from the Economic Development Administration. This new complex would ​provide new homes for the Asbury Park City Council, the Asbury Park Police Department ​along with various city offices. The city spent $800,000 for alternative costs along with ​$50,000 for land acquisition.

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55 Schanck Rd Suite a-14, Freehold, NJ 07728

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