Middletown and Unionville Freight House in Middletown
This originally was printed in the Unionville Flyer vol.
1, #4Photo taken by Ray Brown
The ubiquitous freight house, the northern most
structure on the Middletown and Unionville, rarely photographed and hardly
mentioned, was the final evolution for this type of building in the East
Main St. area. In 1875 the Oswego Midland had a freight house across the
tracks from the Middletown, Unionville & Water Gap East Main station (leased
to the New Jersey Midland) . An 1890's map shows the Ontario & Western,
formerly OM, freight station enlarged and a New York, Susquehanna & Western,
formerly NJM freight house on the spot. Neither freight house appeared on a
1907 O&W map. The O&W had built a larger structure on Wickham Ave across
from the passenger station and the lack of the S&W freight may have been an
omission by the O&W M of W Dept. The original NYS&W freight house north of
East Main Street was moved, dismantled or destroyed by 1914 when the M&U
bought the line which necessitated a replacement building.
On November 1 1913 the NYS&W relinquished control of
the line and the Middletown and Unionville Railroad began operations the
next month. LCL and freight transfer duties were apparently handled in the
passenger station for the next 6 months until the M&U management decided
they needed a separate facility. On May 11, 1914 Vice President and General
Manager J.A. Smith wrote a letter to Mr. Canfield, General Superintendent of
the New York, Ontario and Western Railway asking for permission to set off a
boxcar on O&W property north of East Main Street in Middletown to serve as a
temporary freight house. With their approval they would also asked to
purchase an old car body from the O&W to use for that purpose. Whether or
not the M&U ever used an O&W freight car as a temporary freight house is
unclear.
Exactly three months passed before VP&GM Smith takes
this matter up again in a letter to Mr. C.I. Henry, the President of the
Middletown and Unionville, whose offices were located on 21 State St. in New
York City. In this letter dated August 11, 1914 he informs President Henry
that "The NYO&W Ry have finally agreed to lease us ground for a small
freight house at Middletown. We are preparing plans for a house 20x30 feet
with transfer platform..." Four days latter on the 25th VP&GM Smith sent
another letter to President Henry with more details about the new freight
house. All that was needed now was the final approval by President Henry.
Approval came swiftly through the mails. On August 27 1914 President
Henry wrote VP&GM Smith giving him permission to begin the project. He did
express concern over the $50.00 land lease from the O&W, stating "...it is a
little difficult to know what it is worth but if you think $50. per annum a
fair figure, I am satisfied to have you sign the lease with the O&W". I
guess Henry thought this price a bit steep, but Smith wanting to continue
the developing relations between the M&U and O&W considered it a fair price.
By this time the M&U and the O&W had signed the engine rental agreement
discussed in Peter Brills article in the last issue.
The details for construction proceeded swiftly now.
On August 31, Smith sent out three letters concerning the materials and
labor required for the work. In the first letter, bids were requested from
Ayres & Galloway, Brink and Clark, and Buck Bros. in the next 10-14 days
for:
50 sheets of 26"X 120" No. 24 gauge Galv. Corrugated
sheet iron
60 sheets of 26"X84" No. 24 gauge Galv. Corrugated sheet iron
2 pieces of 16' galvanized ridge roll
The second letter was to section foreman, William Cooper. Included was a
plan for the platforms foundation and instructions to pick 30 third class
oak or chestnut ties of either 6"x8"x8" or 7"x9"x81/2" dimensions from
Unionville stock and ship them to Middletown. Also noted was that the
platform was to be 1" higher than the floor of a boxcar on the Erie side and
1" lower than the floor of a boxcar on the O&W side. The reason for this
escapes me. Work was to begin at the earliest possible date.
The final letter of this busy August day was to H.D.
Gould Lumber on Railroad Ave. in Middletown ordering the following materials
for delivery by Sept. 3:
30 pieces of 2x8x10 rough cut spruce
28 pieces of 2x8x8 rough cut spruce
1 keg of 20d spikes
1 keg of 40d spikes
These materials were to be delivered to the East Main
Street local delivery track.
This bill of materials falls short of the total needed to construct this
building. The 60 sheets of 26"X84" sheet iron were probably used to cover
the roof. The roof pitch looks to be in the 10/12 to 12/12 range which means
that each of the two roof surfaces were about 13-14' long by 30'. It would
require 15 sheets of the 84" (7') long sheet iron (24" actual coverage
assuming a 1" overlap on each end of the 26" sheet) to make one course
across the roof. Two courses per side required 30 sheets per side, both
sides of the roof required 60 sheets total. A photo of the #6 and caboose
standing in front of the freight house clearly shows the seam between the
two courses on the roof.
The 50 sheets of 26" X 120" sheet iron look from
the photos to have been used to cover the walls and this is the quantity
needed to wrap one course of iron around the building (100 linear feet of
wall from the 20'x30' structure). The assumption that the walls are
approximately 10' tall is from the accompanying photograph. The office door
facing the Erie tracks can safely assumed to be 7' high, the standard size.
The space between the door and the eaves looks to be about 3'. The problem
is that we have accounted for all 110 pieces of sheet iron ordered but we
are left with two uncovered gabled ends (the walls on the ends of a building
not covered by the roof). The holes made for the window (on the gabled end),
the door for the office and freight door would account for some scrap that
could be used, but not in the quantity needed. This leads one to believe
that either sheets already owned by the railroad were used or another order
was placed and records from this have not surfaced.
Another mystery is the lumber order, which again was
insufficient to construct the building. The only lumber ordered was the 30
pieces of 2"x8"x10' and 28 pieces of 2"x8"x8' rough cut spruce. Its safe to
assume the 2"x8" 's were used for decking and not for the framing of the
structure. It is very doubtful VP&GM Smith would have paid the extra expense
involved in framing a temporary freight house with 2x8's when standard
construction practice at the time used 2x4 in framing walls of up to 20' in
height. No 2x4's or 2x6's (for framing the roof) were present in the lumber
bid. Even the number of 2x8's were insufficient for decking the structure.
The 30 10' 2x8's laid side by side are 20' long, they would form a deck 10'
wide by 20' long, 200 square feet total. If the same were done with the 8'
ers they would form an 18 1/2' by 8' deck, slightly less than 150 square
feet total. Together the 2x8 order could only cover 350 square feet, far
less than the 600 square feet needed inside the building. Again, section
foreman Cooper must have had another lumber supply for the rest of the
decking material, window, doors and framing lumber.
While these materials were being collected, Smith
was working on the next step of the project which was securing permission to
build from the city of Middletown. In his letter to Mr. J. Degan,
Commissioner of Public Safety, Smith describes the proposed freight platform
as "temporary", and the house as "...a temporary portable steel house 20 x
30 feet...". What edifice Smith and Henry made have planned for the future
is unclear, but this "temporary" structure served the road for 30 years. On
Sept. 10, 1914 the M&U was given permission to build the "portable freight
house and platform on company property on E. Main".
The day before the permit was given, VP&GM Smith was
again in contact with section foreman Cooper, telling him to begin
construction "at once". Also of note in that letter were instructions for
Cooper to contact Mr. C.G. Clark of Westtown to have him also submit a bid
on the sheet metal for the freight house (same quantity and lengths of other
bids of August 31). This raises some interesting questions since Clark was
not asked to bid in the letter of August 31. Was this an effort by Smith to
avoid snubbing an on line shipper?
In any case, Clark didn't get the bid, Brink and
Clark of 28 North St Middletown did. They bid 3.20$ per square board feet on
the metal work. This material was to be delivered by Sept 16. Apparently
Foreman Cooper was making good time on the construction, assuming a start
date on the 10th, he and his crew had sunk the ties for the foundation,
connected these pillars with the rest of the 30 ties and laid the 2"x8"
platform in under one week.
The end of construction was in sight on Sept 22,
1914 when Smith sent a short note to Henry informing him that "the freight
station at Middletown will be completed on Wednesday Sept. 23 1914." It was
opened to the public on the 25 of September in a notice from the railroad,
and on October 7, H.G. Sutherland the Middletown agent was to arrange to set
himself up in the new 10'x12' office once the stove was in place, of course.
Only one story involving the freight house has
surfaced. It seems that once his run was over and the caboose was safely
tucked into the caboose track next to the freight house, conductor
Featherman and friend Roy Sargent would imbibe in some spirits to cut the
chill of the cool night air. The freight house served to purpose admirably
until its demise.
The destruction of the structure was something of a
mystery until Pete Rasmussen found a very important letter in the station
this December. Before the discovery of the letter the best we can do without
direct evidence is to define the latest date we can prove its existence and
the earliest we can prove its demise. Luckily we now have the letter that
ended the lease between the M&U and the O&W for the land that the freight
house rested on. The letter, dated August 26, 1944, states:
"This company desires to cancel the lease between the
Middletown and Unionville Railroad Company and the New York, Ontario and
Western Railway covering ground at Middletown, New York located between East
Main Street and Railroad Avenue, lease being dated the tenth of July, 1917
and effective the first of September, 1917.
The freight house erected by this company on the land
covered by the lease has been torn down and this company has no further need
of the land.
Yours truly,
Louis F. Zieres
Trustee "
The M&U was in a great deal of financial trouble
during this time period and as you can see, bankrupt and under the
management of a trustee. Mr. Zieres instituted several cost cutting programs
and among them was the demolition of the freight house. Its demolition was
probably accomplished by M&U personnel in between their other regular duties
during the month of August. The work was most likely timed to be completed
before the next lease year, September 1, would have begun and $50.00 more
dollars would have to be spent. Mr. Zieres was trying to keep the M&U afloat
by saving every dollar possible.
Photos of the freight house are not very common. The
best shot is also the most common dated 1938, and is the only known photo
that has the freight house as its primary subject (on cover). In all the
known photos the south elevation (with window) and west elevation (with
doors facing the Erie) are shown. I know of no shots that record the north
or east (facing the O&W) elevations. It would be interesting to know if
there were any more doors or windows on these sides.
Bibliography
Letters from J.A. Smith in the Freight house, Middletown file dates in text
photo of map 1875 M&NJRHS photo archives
p.61 Middletown Home of the O&W
p.72 MRC Nov. 1989
M&NJRHS photo archives
Letter from Louis Zieres 8/26/44
Thank you also to Pete Rasmussen, Carl Detwyler, Ray Brown and Joe Deserto
for providing information and support for this article.
This originally was printed in the Unionville
Flyer vol. 1, #4Photo taken by
Ray Brown
