File:Historical Society of the Tonawandas - fmr New York Central Railroad depot - Tonawanda, New York - 20230124.jpg

English: The Historical Society of the Tonawandas, 113 Main Street at Grove Street, Tonawanda, New York, January 2023. Built in 1886 (the date of 1870 cited by the historical marker visible at right echoes that of earlier records, but is incorrect), this former New York Central Railroad depot is a fine and particularly well-preserved example of the so-called "steamboat Gothic" style that was popular in the mid- to late 19th century. The small building is primarily made of brick, with segmentally-arched windows crowned with brick hoods, but note especially the ornate carved woodwork in the truss of the widely projecting gable and the brackets that support it, featuring vine, foliate, and squirrel figures; a requisite trademark of the style. The station replaced an earlier structure on the same site and was utilized for its original purpose for four decades, serving about two dozen trains in each direction at its peak. In that era, the layout of the railroad tracks through downtown Tonawanda was notoriously dangerous: trains ran at street level along the east side of Main Street, and their intermingling with pedestrian and carriage traffic caused numerous accidents and fatalities each year. Rail executives and civic leaders responded to the situation by relocating the tracks onto a new right-of-way that circumvented downtown to the south and east, passing over city streets by way of a series of viaducts. Hence, in 1927, the historic station was cut off from the rail line, superseded several years later by a new one at the corner of Main Street and Fuller Avenue on the south end of the city, which served travellers until the suspension of passenger service in 1959. The original building has served a number of different functions in subsequent years, including at various times an American Legion post, a school, a public library, and since 1965, as a local history museum run by the Historical Society of the Tonawandas.