Mosholu Train Station in Van Cortlandt Park

[ndembowski]

KHS member Philip LeStrange asked about the Mosholu train station in Van Cortlandt Park in this thread.  I’m continuing that conversation here because that thread had a few different topics going.

I just found a map that indicates the station:

That map is a circa 1896 map according to the Leventhal Map Center.  Click here for the map.

The Lehigh University Special Collections department has a photo of that spot:

That’s the railroad tressle bridge that once stood over Mosholu Ave (which then traversed Van Cortlandt Park).  The stone supports for the bridge visible above are still standing just past the stables in the park.  It looks like the station may have been a simple platform stop shown on the top left of the photo.  Here’s a closeup of the sign on the bridge:

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Great picture of the trestle and map showing the station, Nick. Do you have a map showing the Lafayette Hotel at the corner of Broadway and Mosholu Ave.? I seem to recall that there was something of historical interest located in a triangle at that corner mentioned in another posting

[Thomas Casey]

Best I can do about the M0sholu Hotel

[Thomas Casey]

Mosholu Hotel map

[jbakerjonathan]

Thank you, Tom.  These answer my question as to the location of the Hotel.  The triangle that is on the North side of Mosholu Ave was thought I had.  I see, now, that it isn’t a part of this discussion.

Do you happen to readily have the history of the Hotel?  I had a luncheon held in a restaurant, whose name I can’t recall, in that general location at the bottom of Mosholu Ave, on Broadway in 1976.  Could the building have lasted that long?

[Thomas Casey]

I will have to check dates, but the Mosholu Hotel became Paul’s Restaurant.  It appears to be the same structure in the 1920 photo. Note that the Paul’s postcard was mailed in 1945 and my 6,500 postcard collection was donated to the Bronx, Huntington Free Library.  Also note, you can also see this image in the Arcadia publication Northwest Bronx by Bill Twomey & Thomas X. Casey

[Thomas Casey]

I forgot to check 1941 tax images !  https://1940s.nyc/map/photo/nynyma_rec0040_2_03421N_2091#17.41/40.904782/-73.896701

[Peter Ostrander]

Johnathan  its funny you should mention eating in the restaurant in the 70s.  I did too with my wife.  I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but believe it was the original Mosholu Hotel building. An old private wooden house.  About all I remember is the dining room was dimly lit and the wall paper was red velvet with a paisley like pattern. Looked like a bordello from the 1890s  in a western movie.  Don’t remember the food but believe it was a steak house.

[TT]

Looks like the Riverdale Inn. Bussed tables their for a time.Upstairs and downstairs.

[Thomas Casey]

The owner of Paul’s Restaurant was Paul Recker.  You can read his legal case here…https://www.google.com/books/edition/Supreme_Court_Appellate_Division_Third_D/_V3J0HN9J1oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Paul%27s+Restaurant%22++Paul+Recker&pg=RA5-PA295&printsec=frontcover

 

 

[bstein]

In its last incarnation, the restaurant became Barrymore’s. In 1981, it became a disco and then a strip joint, provoking months of picketing that eventually led to its closure.

[jbakerjonathan]

Thank you, Tom and bstein, for the history of the Hotel. Indeed, Paul’s Restaurant was the place where we ate. Peter, I, too, recall that it had a dark ambience. I don’t recall why I chose that restaurant. I hosted the small group of friends who had attended the memorial for my Mother that was held at the Riverdale Presbyterian Church that day.
It looks as though the hotel was replaced with a new building in 1996, according to NYCityMap.

[TT]

At one time was a speakeasy or brothel.Had a bar and some dining tables upstairs.                                                                  I remember the owner at the time, Henry Lowe showing me a large picture at the end                                                             the bar that you could swing open and view the main dining room downstairs and the                                                             main entrance, in case the cops were raiding the place.

 

[dwolff49]

The first thing that struck me in the restaurant dining room was how far apart the tables are spaced. Easier for servers and easier for diners getting seated or leaving the table. We certainly don’t see that today.

[Author]

Posts