The New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad Passenger Station is located on Institution Road, between Eastern Correctional Facility

Eastern Correctional Facility

The Eastern Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in New York in the USA. The prison is in Ulster County, New York. The prison was at one time called the "State Institution for Male Defective Delinquents". The Delaware and Hudson Canal, and later the New York, Ontario and Western...

 and Rondout Creek

Rondout Creek

Rondout Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties, New York, USA. It rises on Rocky Mountain in the eastern Catskills, flows south into Rondout Reservoir, part of New York City's water supply network, then into the valley between the Catskills and the Shawangunk...

, near Napanoch

Napanoch, New York

Napanoch is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York. It is at the junction of routes 209 and 55. It is on the Shawangunk Ridge National Scenic Byway, and is part of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area....

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USA.

Beginning

It was built by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway

New York, Ontario and Western Railway

The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad with origins in 1868, lasting until March 29, 1957 when it was ordered liquidated by a US bankruptcy judge. The O&W holds the distinction of being the first major U.S...

 (O & W) in 1903 for the dual purpose of bringing tourists to Napanoch and inmate

Incarceration

Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...

s to the newly-established prison. A branch from Ellenville

Ellenville, New York

Ellenville is a village in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 4,135 at the 2010 census. The postal ZIP code is 12428. The telephone exchange is predominantly 647 and an overlaid 210 in the 845 area code.- Geography :...

 to Kerhonkson

Kerhonkson, New York

Kerhonkson is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 1,684 at the 2010 census.Kerhonkson is a small hamlet which, along with Accord, makes up the Town of Rochester on US 209, just south of the town's boundary with the Town of Wawarsing and just north of where US 44...

 was opened in 1902, following the recently-abandoned Delaware and Hudson Canal

Delaware and Hudson Canal

The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which later developed the Delaware and Hudson Railway...

, a portion of which survives just west of the station building. A temporary station at the present site served passengers while the New York City firm of Jackson, Rosencrans & Canfield designed and built a permanent station in a Classical Revival

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

 style

Architectural style

Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...

. After slightly over $7,000 was spent, it opened the following year.

Ending

Passenger service ended when the railroad was forced to cut back operations in the 1950s, and the original domed roof had deteriorated to the point that it was replaced with the current tiled version. The tracks were removed shortly after the railroad was liquidated

Liquidation

In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...

 following its bankruptcy

Bankruptcy in the United States

Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...

 in 1957.

Preservation

It became the property of the state Department of Correctional Services

New York State Department of Correctional Services

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision or NYSDOCCS is the agency of New York State responsible for the care, confinement, and rehabilitation of approximately 63,000 inmates at 71 correctional facilities funded by the State of New York. The department employs...

, which owned the surrounding land as part of the prison property.

Eventually it was renovated and reopened as a museum devoted to its past and the O & W. A small section of track next to it was restored and some of the former railroad's rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

salvaged and put on display.