Construction (1837–1907) Service in the area of
Springfield Township in then-
Union County began on September 17, 1837 when the "Orange", a locomotive operated by the
Morris and Essex Railroad, began a test trip between
Newark and
Madison. This train was a single locomotive and two cars. Permanent service between the two municipalities began on September 28, 1837 and a station was established as Millville. Millville station stood next to a pond, where the "Orange" would take water due to the railroad being at a low enough level. However, railroad crews discovered that the locomotive could not maintain sufficient steam for the heavy load of water and this was replaced by a water pump machine at Summit. Construction of the Morris and Essex through Millville helped influence development. Prior to the construction of the railroad, Millville had a few local businesses, residences and a paper mill. With the railroad, more direct delivery options were made for the paper mills to send their wares to
Elizabeth, New Jersey and
New York City that were previously sent by
sloops. The railroad turned the paper mills into the principal industry of the area and development grew around the new paper mills. The railroad station built at Millville, which became
Millburn Township in 1857, burned in a fire in 1874. The depot was replaced by the freight station, built in 1855 by entrepreneur Jonathan Parkhurst to protect his paper products from the mills. This wooden structure was converted into a passenger station. Deferred maintenance led to the depot becoming an eyesore in the municipality with the station not being washed save for the
John L. Sullivan appearance in 1886. The new station at Millburn opened on November 10, 1907. The original plans were for the 11:20 a.m. would be the first train to use the new station, but an unrelated accident of the 11:50 p.m. Saturday train on November 9 caused a change in the plans. The damaged train worked its way through Millburn and attempted to take a switch west of the station, derailed and the caused the train to stop at the new platform, becoming the new first train at the station. The construction of the new station resulted in the closure of the Wyoming station, leaving an inconvenience to the passengers due to the lack of direct access to the new Millburn station. However, plans were in motion to make a connection to the Laurel Street section of Wyoming to the new Millburn station. The Lackawanna installed a new sidewalk along the road paralleling the tracks to help Wyoming residents reach the new station. Both stations were made of brick; the eastbound station being in size and the westbound one being . The station also had a freight house. The closure of Wyoming station drew local opposition. After sending a letter to the railroad, the Lackawanna sent residents of Wyoming that there were benefits of the newly rebuilt Millburn station and that they would not work harder on improving access to the Wyoming neighborhood. The newly-formed Wyoming Association came together in January 1908 as part of a response to the closure of Wyoming station. Their committee on transportation focused on getting a reversal of the closure. They attended a hearing of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners in
Trenton on March 3. The Commissioners ordered the railroad to re-open Wyoming station and a new train station. However, the railroad ignored the order from the Board to restore service at Wyoming. The process was followed by delays from the railroad, who in 1910 filed a petition to reverse the order, despite never actually restoring service. A new hearing was held in Newark on June 10, 1910 to determine if people in Wyoming wanted to continue to have service restored. Despite heavy support from residents of Wyoming at the meeting, the railroad was granted the right to not restore the station. As a result, the Wyoming Association asked that the depot be removed and the land on it become part of the park surrounding the structure. The railroad removed the station . Local firefighters hosed down the steam engine, but the locomotive never had its boiler explode. The firefighters then pulled the fireman from the locomotive, where he had a leg completely severed, leading to his death. The engineer was on one of the station platforms and promptly sent to Irvington General Hospital. Doctors diagnosed him with several fractured bones, cuts and bruises. They continued to wash down small fires that occurred from the accident, including flaming railroad ties and putting water in the boiler to prevent an explosion. Local residents chipped in to keep the firefighters fed. Donnelly also applied to have a second building constructed at the station, this time for the westbound platform. This was due to a request from officials of Millburn Township who asked if Donnelly would improve the westbound platform. This new building would be a colonial three-story structure, two of which would provide office space for Millburn businesses and the third room would be a full recreation room for employees. Construction began in late March 1962 of the new building on the westbound platform, which would also become the headquarters for Donnelly Bros., moving from Newark to Millburn to occupy the westbound platform building. Donnelly stated that he hoped the westbound structure would be completed to the point that on July 1, so railroad officials and passengers could utilize the first story as a waiting room and ticket office. Demolition of the westbound station depot occurred on March 30, 1962. The new office building on the westbound station opened on November 16, 1962. The building contained the requested waiting room and as part of deeding the property to Donnelly Bros., the railroad requested that the company maintain the pedestrian tunnel between the two structures. Despite Donnelly's proposals, the reconstruction of the eastbound station depot never occurred in 1962. In July 1973, Donnelly went back to the township with a new proposal that would make a new building of 3.5 stories. The township agreed to it on the condition the
beech tree on the property be maintained, because it was considered a municipal landmark. However, Donnelly's firm fell into
receivership through
bankruptcy in 1976. That year, Marc Berson of Millburn Station Ltd purchased the structure from Donnelly. Instead of Donnelly's 1973 proposal, Berson suggested a new colonial structure and a parking deck replacing a gas station at Essex Street and Lackawanna Place, a proposal that was rejected. The project would be held off until July 1980, approved a new structure designed by Michael Graves of
Princeton that Berson requested. This new one would keep the current railroad station but have a two-story structure built at the western end of the depot. This would result in the elimination of the beech tree, a decision objected by several local interest groups. However, the project continued in a non-started state due to lack of financial interest by Berson. By August 1983, right before the permits were set to expire, Berson's firm cut down the tree and announced that he was working on selling the property to P&R Associates and requested an extension on the permits. The sale and extension were agreed to in September, moving the expiration date of the project to December 31. P&R purchased the depot for $250,000, paid for as part of a $1.5 million loan from the Essex County Improvement Authority. P&R announced in June 1986 that the bids would be returned by July 2, which would be followed by municipal agreement via the Planning Board. The speculated date of opening would be in 1987. However, the start of the construction was delayed due to Essex County wanting more right-of-way on Essex Street. The county stated that P&R would need to hand over before it would approve the new structure, a decision appealed by P&R. P&R agreed to the plans after a September 18 hearing and the entire project was waiting for final approval of the Millburn Planning Board. P&R already acquired the permits for demolition of the depot, began negotiations with NJ Transit about detours for construction and hired a firm to build the structure. The Planning Board made a final approval on November 5. The original demolition of the eastbound station would be November 10 through equipment from Paley Construction Company, but leaves falling on the tracks caused delays due to the oil on the tracks. Demolition began in December 1986. The building was finished by July 1988, except that the station opening ceremonies were held up by NJ Transit losing their ticket agent at Millburn to
American Airlines. Due to the change in ticket agents, the trailer that had been serving as the station agency and the new building were both closed until the scenario was resolved. The station opened on August 3 when Leonard Pagano of
Stanhope became the ticket agent at the new station, moving from his assignment at
Maplewood station, returning to the station he worked in 1973. == Station layout and facility ==