Merillon Avenue (LIRR station)

Merillon Avenue

Merillon Avenue Station as seen from the eastbound platform.
Location Nassau Boulevard & Merillon Avenue
Garden City, NY
Coordinates 40°44′07″N 73°39′45″W / 40.735164°N 73.662523°W / 40.735164; -73.662523Coordinates: 40°44′07″N 73°39′45″W / 40.735164°N 73.662523°W / 40.735164; -73.662523
Owned by MTA
Line(s)
  Oyster Bay Branch
  Ronkonkoma Branch
  Port Jefferson Branch
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Connections All-Island Transportation
Construction
Parking Yes
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 4
History
Opened 1912
Rebuilt 1958
Electrified October 1926
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names Clowesville (1837-1874)
Garden City (1874-1876)
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 1,533[1]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Main Line
(Port Jefferson Branch)
(also Oyster Bay Branch
and Ronkonkoma Branch)

Merillon Avenue is a station on the Main Line (Port Jefferson Branch service) of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Nassau Boulevard and Merillon Avenue in Garden City. The station is wheelchair accessible with two side platforms and a crossunder at Nassau Boulevard.

History

Merillon Avenue station was established in 1911 near the former Clowesville station, which was established in June 1837 by the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad. It was the closest LIRR station to the old Queens County courthouse (Nassau County became a separate county in 1899, splitting off from Queens County) off Jericho Turnpike. By 1845, it was used only when courts were in session.

From 1874-1876, the station was named "Garden City" in order to mislead travelers into thinking that the station served Alexander Turney Stewart's Garden City, which was already served by Garden City station along the Central Railroad of Long Island in 1872.[2]The court moved away in 1877 and the station fell by the wayside,[3] although some trains continued to stop there as late as June 1897.[4] Though re-established as a station in 1911, the station house itself was not built until 1912. It was rebuilt in 1958 with a smaller structure and an narrow 11'6" bridge under the tracks for Nassau Boulevard.

LIRR massacre

The Merillon Avenue station was the final stop on the 5:33 p.m. train from Penn Station to Hicksville on December 7, 1993, before Colin Ferguson opened gunfire at passengers who were white or Asian. Six people died and 19 others were wounded. Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed and whose son was seriously injured in the tragedy, pressed for tougher gun control laws and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1996. There are often memorial wreaths on the platform at the head of the eastbound tracks of the station on the anniversaries of the incident.[5]

Platforms and tracks

1 ■ Main Line toward New York (New Hyde Park)
2 ■ Main Line toward Ronkonkoma, Oyster Bay, or Port Jefferson (Mineola)

This station has two high-level side platforms, each the length of ten railway cars. The northern platform, next to Track 1, is generally used by westbound or New York City-bound trains, but is sometimes used by eastbound trains during the PM rush hour. The southern platform, next to Track 2, is generally used by eastbound trains, but is sometimes used by westbound trains during the AM rush hour. The Main Line has two tracks, although there is a proposal to add a third track.

References

  1. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  2. ↑ "The Long Island Rail Road, a Comprehensive History - Part 3: The Age of Expansion: 1863-1880," by Vincent F. Seyfried (1966)
  3. ↑ Clowesville Station (Arrt's Arrchives)
  4. ↑ LIRR station history
  5. ↑ Merillon Avenue memorial wreaths (TheSubwayNut)

Media related to Merillon Avenue (LIRR station) at Wikimedia Commons

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