User:Millbrooky/Sandbox3

Tuxedo Park Station is a classic small commuter station in the Romanesque style reminiscent of those designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in the 1880s in Massachusetts. At the time of its building it was the only stone station along the Pacific Railway, all other being board and batten.

When Lilburn McNair laid out Tuxedo Park, he built this impressive train station and gave it to the Missouri Pacific Railroad to attract commuters to his subdivision. It was the first stone station along the line. The massive stone construction with deep-set windows, flared hip roof, a single tower and broad eaves supported by wood brackets make it resemble the Old Colony Railroad Station in North Easton, Mass., designed by H. H. Richardson in 1881.

The Tuxedo Park Station served hundreds of businessmen, shoppers and families of Tuxedo Park. The ticket agent lived nearby and walked up to open the station before the first eastbound train in the morning, and he closed up after the eastbound shopper’s special at 1:23 p.m. The ten daily eastbound trains started at 6 a.m., and commuters walked home from the station in the evening. By 1921 the Missouri Pacific had reduced the number of daily eastbound trains to six, and by 1940 to three. The fare was still ten cents. The Missouri Pacific discontinued the last commuter train in December 1961 and gradually tore down all of its small frame commuter stations. Because of its substantial construction, the Tuxedo Park Station survived and was used to store equipment until 1980, when it was scheduled for demolition. Mayor Jack Cooper persuaded the Missouri Pacific Railroad to donate the station to the City of Webster Groves, saving this classic reminder of the commuter origins of the city.