Bartow Station

The25th (Atlas Obscura User)

Bartow Station was designed by Cass Gilbert and built in 1908 as a replacement for an existing wooden station in a small village called Bartow-on-the-Sound. After getting off at the station you could connect to a trolley into City Island. For a short time, from 1910-1913, you could ride a monorail from the Bartow Station down through the entire island. The trolley into City Island sputtered along until 1919 and the Harlem branch stopped passenger service in the 1930s. Bartow Station has stood abandoned ever since.

Cass Gilbert was kind of a big deal in his day. His resume boasted of a number of important structures in Manhattan such as the Woolworth Building, George Washington Bridge and Brooklyn Army Terminal. He was also commissioned to build several stations in the Bronx for the Harlem River Branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Of those stations, only 3 others are still standing aside from Barstow. The most well-known is the Westchester Avenue station near Concrete Plant Park.

Know Before You Go

Take the 6 train to the end of the line at Pelham-Bay Park. Then ride the Bx29 bus toward City Island. Gef the bus at City Island Road / Shore Road, right after crossing the Pelham Bridge. Then, cross Pelham Bridge Road to Pelham Bit Stables. From there you can walk along a horse trail for about half a mile until the trail turns left and toward the station. The overgrowth will make it very difficult to find if you’re there in the warmer months. Be aware that the station is very close to an active Amtrak line.