Far Hills Station

Far Hills Station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1914 and was designed by a staff architect, L.R. Simpson. Simpson was an assistant to Frank J. Nies, a prolific architect for the railroad, who designed most of the stations in the D. L. and W.'s system. The station is exemplary of the Renaissance Revival style and has round arch window frames and surrounds, a central eytebrow dormer and a Spanish tile roof. A notable detail of Far Hills Station is the glazed green tiles set in a geometric pattern in the poured concrete walls. The station is nearly identical to the earlier Morris Plains Station, yet is constructed of reinforced concrete rather than brick. The material used for Far Hills Station was reinforced concrete due to the large scale use of this durable and versatile substance on grade crossing elimination projects being built at the time on the D. L. and W. Far Hills Station is located on the NJ Transit's Gladstone Branch which was originally chartered in 1865 as the Passaic Valley and Peapack Railroad. The name was changed to the New Jersey West Line in 1870, and on October 19, 1878, the line was acquired by the D. L. and W. and renamed the Passaic and Delaware Railroad. The P. and D. was extended from Bernardsville to Gladstone on April 17, 1890 after which most of the station buldings along the line were built. Electrified train service reached Somerset County in 1931. Far Hills Station was listed on both the State and national Register of Historic Places in 1984. Photo: John Williver Collection