Cranford Railroad Building On List Of 10 Most Endangered NJ Sites

CRANFORD, NJ — A century-old railroad building in Cranford has appeared on an annual list of the top 10 most endangered historical sites in New Jersey for 2020, released last Thursday by the group Preservation New Jersey.

The group says that the roundhouse, built between 1913 and 1915, is only one of three surviving roundhouses in the state, "a once-common but now rare building type associated with New Jersey's dynamic railroad history."

Roundhouses were used in the first half of the 1900s because it was difficult for big steam locomotives to turn around. Trains would head into a stall in the roundhouse and be turned around on a turntable in order to depart.

The building is currently used for the town's Department of Public Works maintenance yard and storage facility. However, according to the group, it's in danger because "There has been discussion of relocating the DPW; and in October 2019, the Township Planning Board recommended removing the roundhouse from the list of historic resources. Without local historic protections, the township may sell the property for private development, which could lead to its demolition."

The group suggests that instead, it could be repurposed as artist studio space, a brewery, or a small performance/event venue.

A description on one of the group's web pages gives more history of the building and of roundhouses.

By the 1950s, steam locomotives had been replaced by diesels, and no longer needed turntables. Cranford's building, part of the Cranford Junction Coach Yard, was used until 1954.

After that, private companies began utilizing it. The township bought it for the DPW in 1979.

The only other two surviving roundhouses are in Hawthorne and Newark, the group says. The Cranford roundhouse was built by the Central Railroad of New Jersey starting in 1913.

Selections for the list are based on three criteria:

• historic significance and architectural integrity,
• the critical nature of the threat identified, and
• the likelihood that inclusion on the list will have a positive impact on efforts to protect the resource

See what else is on the list here. What do you think? Comment below.

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