Bronx Park Terminal was a terminal station on the demolished

IRT Third Avenue Line The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent railwa ...

in the Bedford Park neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The station was located adjacent to

Bronx Park Bronx Park is a public park along the Bronx River, in the Bronx, New York City. The park is bounded by Southern Boulevard to the southwest, Webster Avenue to the northwest, Gun Hill Road to the north, Bronx Park East to the east, and East 1 ...

and the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a ...

at 198th Street between Webster Avenue and Southern Boulevard, in the approximate location of the modern

Fordham Preparatory School Fordham Preparatory School (also known as Fordham Prep) is an American private, Jesuit, boys' college-preparatory school located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, New York City. From its founding in 1841 until 1970, t ...

. It was opened on May 21, 1902 and closed on November 14, 1951.New York's El Lines 1867-1955 Electric Railroaders Assn Dec 1956, Bulletin #25 The next southbound stop was Fordham Road – 190th Street.

History

The station was built as a one stop extension from Fordham Road – 190th Street (then called Pelham Avenue) to provide direct service to Bronx Park, particularly the

. It was located on a 2,200 x 50 foot tract of land on the western edge of the campus of St. John's College (now the Rose Hill campus of

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

), purchased from the college by the

Manhattan Railway Company The Manhattan Railway Company was an elevated railway company in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, United States. It operated four lines: the Second Avenue Line, Third Avenue Line, Sixth Avenue Line, and Ninth Avenue Line. History 19 ...

. This characteristic was shared with much of Bronx Park, particularly the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...

and Botanical Garden which were also built on former Fordham property. The station was the northern terminal for all Third Avenue Line trains until an extension north of Fordham Road on a separate right-of-way along Webster Avenue to Gun Hill Road was completed on October 4, 1920, which included a station at nearby 200th Street (now Bedford Park Boulevard). Due to reduced patronage at the station, beginning in 1948 no service ran to or from Bronx Park between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The station was closed entirely in 1951, and the entire structure was demolished by 1952. Afterwards, the right-of-way of the stub line was re-purchased by Fordham University for $55,000.

Station layout

The station had three tracks, the easternmost two of which were served by one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular ...

. The westernmost track had no platform and was used for storage. Following the extension of the line on Webster Avenue, Bronx Park became a stub-end station separate from the mainline. During this time, trains from Fordham Road either terminated at Bronx Park, or bypassed the station towards Gun Hill Road. The station had a wide, covered wooden bridge across the tracks of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 an ...

(now the

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southe ...

of the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut ...

), permitting access to Fordham University and the New York Botanical Garden at Southern Blvd to the east, and to the Bedford Park neighborhood to the west.

References

External links

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Post card view of the 3rd Ave El Bronx Park Terminal (Forgotten Bronx Transit)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronx Park Terminal (Irt Third Avenue Line) IRT Third Avenue Line stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1902 Railway stations closed in 1951 Former elevated and subway stations in the Bronx Defunct New York City Subway stations located aboveground Bedford Park, Bronx