History
Flushing Main Street station was originally built in December 1853 by the New York and Flushing Railroad, but not opened until June 26, 1854. The station was named after both Flushing and Main Street, in order to distinguish itself from the former Flushing Bridge Street station that ran along the Whitestone Branch of the Long Island Rail Road that was later abandoned. Flushing Main Street would serve as the terminus of the NY&F until October 30, 1864 when a subsidiary known as the North Shore Railroad extended it out to Great Neck, and it was burned in order to prepare for a second station that was built between January and February 1865. It was razed again in 1870 and a third station was built between October and November 1870. Throughout the 1870s, Flushing Main Street and the rest of the line was acquired by the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which would then be merged with the Central Railroad of Long Island to form the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad, and finally become part of the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. Shortly after the line was electrified on October 22, 1912, the station was abandoned on November 11, 1912, as part of an effort by the Long Island Rail Road to bring the Port Washington Branch above and below street level depending on the location. In Flushing, the station was elevated along with the rest of the tracks on October 4, 1913. Until that point, the line used to run at grade and went through a tunnel under a girls' school just east of where the Main Street overpass stands today. The tunnel and the school were torn down to build the overpass and the open cut the line now runs through. In 1958, the elevated track level building was razed and replaced with a street level ticket office. Sheltered platforms exist on both sides of the tracks in the former station's place, and the sidewalks beneath the bridge serve as local businesses.
Read more about this topic: Flushing Main Street (LIRR Station)
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