Ozone Park station was opened by the
New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad in 1884. In the early expansion plans of the city's
Independent Subway System (IND) in the 1930s, the Rockaway Beach Branch was planned to be absorbed into the new subway, which would have turned Ozone Park into a stop on the
IND Queens Boulevard Line or a new Queens crosstown line. In 1950, the
Rockaway Beach Branch south of Ozone Park closed after the trestle on
Jamaica Bay between
The Raunt and
Broad Channel Stations was destroyed by a fire. The city purchased the entire line in 1955 in preparation to convert the line for rapid transit service. The portion south of Ozone Park was connected to the former
Fulton Street elevated running on
Liberty Avenue to create the
IND Rockaway Line, The remainder of the line between Rego Park and Ozone Park was leased back to the LIRR, who continued to operate along it pending construction of an additional connection to the Queens Boulevard Line in
Rego Park. The connection to the Queens Boulevard Line, however, was never constructed The station closed on June 8, 1962 when passenger service between Rego Park and Ozone Park ended. Since the closing of the line, many businesses in the area have set up shop in the portion of trestle below the station. In the late 1980s the
F.B.I. used the abandoned platforms to set up a sting operation to monitor the activities of
John Gotti and the
Gambino crime family, whose social club was down the street from the station. As of 2020, Ozone Park station exists in ruins. Electric utility poles and
Pennsylvania Railroad-era signal bridges also adorn the right of way. ==References==