RAHWAY, New Jersey — Rahway has a deep history, with the earliest settlers arriving in the 17th century.
A century later, the railroad forever changed the trajectory of the city’s history. The New Jersey Rail Road extended its tracks to the city in 1836.
The Pennsylvania Railroad opened a station in Rahway in 1885. In July 1913, the railroad opened a new $60,000 station in the city along its newly elevated line through the area.
“I recall the time when the only accommodations we had here in train service consisted of a combination baggage and passenger car seating not more than twenty-five persons,” The New York Times quoted Rahway Mayor Thomas A. Fyffe as saying during a speech to 2,500 at the station’s opening. “Now the commuters have coaches for eighty persons each, and there are no more strap-hangers.”
The station stood until the 1970s, when it was under the jurisdiction of Penn Central. Then, New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne dedicated a new station on August 28, 1975.
According to an article in the March 1976 edition of the Penn Central Post, “Most of the old station on the east side of the main line was torn down, and a new two-story station was constructed by building brick walls with anodized aluminum window panels around the remaining portion of the older structure. The features include new lighting, heating, plastic seating units and windows of unbreakable Lexan plastic.”
A North Rahway station also served the Northeast Corridor.
In 1983, NJ Transit purchased the Rahway and North Rahway stations from Amtrak. Work on the current Rahway station, which replaced the 1970s station, kicked off in April 1996, and NJ Transit opened it in August 1998.
The North Rahway station originally opened as the Scott Avenue station, but changed its name to North Rahway in January 1936. It closed at the end of January 1993.