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With Hackensack rail station gone, is historic status next?Last updated: Wednesday February 23, 2011, 8:42 AM
BY MONSY ALVARADO
The Record
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — The Anderson Street Railroad Station's designation as a landmark could soon be history.
The Anderson Street Railroad Station in 1869, shortly after it was built. It was one of the stops on the Erie Railroad. The station was put on both the state and national registers of historic places in 1984. The New Jersey State Review Board of Historic Sites has been asked to de-register the building, which was torn down following a 2009 fire. But city officials want to preserve the state and national historic status and are pushing for a replica of the 19th-century structure to be built. A decision could be made Thursday."If there's a way to somehow recreate what was there, you can preserve the sense of place, and the sense of time," said Albert Dib, the city's historian. "That really was the center point of Anderson Street."
"It's been here for years and years, and anybody who is alive today and remembers it being here and then consumed by fire, everyone in the community recognized that something very valuable in the community was lost," he added. "You can call it purely sentimental, but you want things like that in your community."
Courtney Carroll, spokeswoman for NJ Transit, owners of the property, said the public transportation corporation made the de-registration request because "nothing remains of the original structure."
What's nextThe New Jersey State Review Board of Historic Sites will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday at the state Department of Environmental Protection building, 401 E. State St., Trenton. The meeting will be held in the first-floor public hearing room.
The scene on Jan. 10, 2009, during a fire at the station, which was later torn down. City officials and historians want a replica of the station to be built. In a memorandum to the state review board earlier this month, Daniel D. Saunders, acting administrator of the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, agreed."Since the complete destruction of this building renders it unable to convey its architectural and historic significance as a representative, 19th-century small town railroad depot, I request the board's concurrence with the request to de-register," he wrote.
The railroad station was built in 1869, and was one of the stops on the Erie Railroad. It was listed in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on March 17, 1984, and in the national register on June 22, 1984.
The designation made the station eligible to receive grants and other funds set aside for historic preservation.
If the board votes in favor of the de-registration, the station would be removed from both lists, said Larry Hajna, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. The Historic Preservation Office is located within the DEP.
Hajna added that if a building replicating the old architecture was constructed, it would not qualify for a historic designation.
Hackensack Mayor Karen Sasso said NJ Transit has been asked numerous times to rebuild the station and it has been unresponsive.
"In the over two years since the fire there is only an oversized bus shelter to serve the many commuters who use that train stop," she wrote in a statement. "I renew my call to NJ Transit to rebuild the station, hopefully in a manner which maintains its historic status, so that the city can continue to be home to this treasure and so that our commuters can be served once again with a permanent structure which they deserve."
Carroll said NJ Transit is developing a plan for the site, but couldn't say whether the plans call for a station to be built, or whether it would have the earlier architectural design. She said NJ Transit officials plan on getting input from the city.
About 320 people use the station daily, Carroll said.
The station was the second oldest in the state system before the fire. A station in Ramsey is the oldest.
Also destroyed by the blaze was the Green Caboose, a thrift shop housed in the depot and run by the ladies auxiliary of Hackensack University Medical Center. Proceeds from the store benefited the hospital.
Dib, who will attend Thursday's state meeting on behalf of the city, said the railroad station was refurbished in 1998 and that there is detailed documentation on the architecture of the building if it was to be reconstructed again.
An image of the station can be seen on the city website's home page, and Dib said he can't bring himself to remove the photo. He said he's hoping to open a dialog with state officials.
"People have asked isn't it time for the picture to go, but my gut says no, leave it there, and see what we can do to get something else that is appropriate for that space and that is what we are going to try to do on Thursday," he said.
E-mail: alvarado@northjersey.com