The Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center is an intermodal center and transportation hub in Hempstead,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It contains the

Nassau Inter-County Express The Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) is the local bus system serving Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, United States. It also serves parts of western Suffolk County, as well as eastern portions of the New York City borough of Queens. ...

bus system's indoor customer facility between Jackson and West Columbia Streets – as well as the

terminus Terminus may refer to: Ancient Rome *Terminus (god), a Roman deity who protected boundary markers Transport *Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination *Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end des ...

for the

Hempstead Branch The Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village station. It p ...

of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

, located right across West Columbia Street from the bus terminal. Serving 17 routes, the bus terminal is a major transfer point for customers using a second Nassau Inter-County Express route or the LIRR. It offers a waiting area, transit information,

MetroCard metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...

vending machines, a newsstand, and restrooms.

History

Rail terminal

The Hempstead Long Island Railroad station was originally built as a

Central Railroad of Long Island Central Railroad of Long Island was built on Long Island, New York (state), New York, by Alexander Turney Stewart, who was also the founder of Garden City, New York, Garden City. The railroad was established in 1871, then merged with the Flushing ...

depot sometime between October and December 1872, on the corner of Main Street and Fulton Avenue. When the Long Island Rail Road acquired the CRRLI in 1878, this Hempstead Station and terminus came with it, replacing the former 1839-built Hempstead Station, which ran along the original Hempstead Branch, and was located on Main Street and Centre Street. The station was remodeled in July 1881, and razed in 1913. A second brick station was built in February 1913, which was designed to have trains terminate behind the building rather than alongside of it. This was due to an accident from January 1912 involving a milk train that rear-ended a stationary passenger car, sending it across Fulton Avenue and crashing into a building across the street and resulting in two deaths. Between December 30, 1941 and 1943, service was suspended when the tracks were cut back and the station was moved to Columbia Street. A temporary station was installed west of its former location until work on this project was finished. Upon the completion of this move and track work, the second station reopened. The station was gutted in a fire on December 31, 1962 and remodeled in April 1963. This station was razed in 1998 and replaced with a much more elaborate, modern third depot, which was built between 1999 and 2002.

Bus terminal

In 1993, construction on the Hempstead Transit Center was completed, replacing an earlier one. In conjunction with the new railroad station, its construction was part of a plan by Mayor James A. Garner to redevelop Hempstead and help bring it back to prominence as "Long Island's hub." The original Hempstead bus terminal was located across Jackson Street on the corner of Jackson and Main streets. That area is now occupied by the Greyhound bus stop and various businesses. The new transit center can accommodate many more buses than the original terminal and allows almost half of the Nassau Inter-County Express (formerly MTA Long Island Bus) system's routes to run through Hempstead.

Renaming for Rosa Parks

On February 14, 2006, Thomas R. Suozzi, then the County Executive of Nassau County, announced that Hempstead Transit Center would be renamed in honor of civil rights pioneer

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

. At the dedication, Suozzi said, "To honor her memory and that of her important work, today we are renaming this vital transit hub for one of the most important figures in American history." In addition to the renaming of the terminal, a permanent exhibit of the civil rights movement will be constructed, telling the story of the struggle for equality through the photographs of photojournalists and artists who covered the unrest of that era, including the late Moneta Sleet Jr.,

Jim Peppler James H. Peppler is a former newspaper photographer for ''The Southern Courier'' during the Civil Rights Era and then ''Newsday'' in Long Island, New York. He captured images of the Civil Rights Era in central Alabama. He later worked in New York ...

, and Herbert Randall. A column in the back of the bus terminal has been renovated with black marble, engraved with a large image of Rosa Parks and her story.

Station layout

This station has two high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

s, each eight cars long. The Hempstead Branch has eight tracks at this location. The four tracks to the east of – but not adjacent to – the platforms are used for train storage.

Bus connections

There are 19 routes that serve the Hempstead Transit Center, those being the n6, n6X, n15, n16, n16X, n27, n31, n31X/MMCS, n32, n35, n40, n40X, n41, n48, n49, n54, n55, n70 and n88X. Summer weekend Jones Beach n88X trips along with n6X and n40X trips stop outside at Jackson Avenue. Departure assignments during the day are listed below, during late night hours when the terminal is closed, all buses stop on West Columbia Street at Station Plaza immediately north of the terminal.

Gallery

File:Hempstead LIRR West Side.jpg, West side of the station File:Hempstead LIRR Tracks.jpg, A train arrives at the station File:Hempstead LIRR Crosswalk.jpg, Commuters transfer from train to bus File:Greyhound Bus Hempstead.jpg,

Greyhound Bus Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as intercity buses in Mexico. B ...

stopping outside the terminal

References

External links

Hempstead Station History (Arrt's Arrchives)

NICE Bus links

Station House from Google Maps Street View (Interior)

Platforms from Google Maps Street View

South end of the platforms & tracks/ Exterior of the Station House from Google Maps Street View

Overpass from Google Maps Street View

West Side of the Bus Terminal's loading/drop off area from Google Maps Street View
{{NYC surface transit Hempstead (village), New York Nassau Inter-County Express Transit centers in the United States Bus stations in New York (state) Monuments and memorials to Rosa Parks Long Island Rail Road stations in Nassau County, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1872 1872 establishments in New York (state)