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:
“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)
“In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)