History
Ozone Park station was opened by the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad in 1884, and closed on June 8, 1962 when passenger service between Rego Park and Ozone Park ended. The station and right-of-way was never abandoned by the railroad; instead, it was later sold to the City of New York with the expectation that the New York City Transit Authority would eventually operate service north of Liberty Avenue. Nothing advanced beyond the planning stages for this proposal.
Since the closing of the line, many businesses in the area have set up shop in the portion of trestle below the station. In the late 1980s the F.B.I. used the abandoned platforms to set up a sting operation to monitor the activities of John Gotti and the Gambino crime family, whose social club was down the street from the station.
As of 2011, Ozone Park station exists in ruins. Electric utility poles and Pennsylvania Railroad-era signal bridges also adorn the right of way.
Read more about this topic: Ozone Park (LIRR Station)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The whole history of civilisation is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)