Brick Church station

Brick Church station

Company type	Commuter railroad stop
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1836-11-19
Headquarters	East Orange , United States
Area served	Essex County, New Jersey
Products	Rail transit services

Brick Church functions as an operational commuter railroad stop situated in East Orange, New Jersey, within Essex County. It is one of two transit points serving East Orange and is positioned close to the historic Brick Presbyterian Church, which lent its name to the surrounding area. This station accommodates New Jersey Transit’s Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch, offering eastbound routes toward New York Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal, as well as westbound trips to Gladstone and Hackettstown. The facility includes three tracks alongside a side platform and an island platform; however, it does not provide facilities for disabled access.

Rail operations commenced on November 19, 1836, coinciding with the inauguration of the Morris and Essex Railroad service to Orange. Initially, trains made stops at the residence of attorney Matthias Ogden Halsted, who subsequently established a dedicated station for passenger use. A new depot was constructed in 1880 with local financial support. The existing station building was unveiled on December 18, 1922, following track elevation work carried out by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. In 1984, the brick headhouse gained inclusion on both the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places as part of the Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource.

History

The rail corridor passing through East Orange originated in 1835 when the Morris and Essex Railroad received its charter from the New Jersey State Legislature on January 29. Service commenced on November 19, 1836, linking Newark with The Oranges. Entrepreneur and landowner Matthias Ogden Halsted (1792–1866) leveraged the single daily Newark-bound train by arranging for it to stop at his home. He later financed and constructed the Brick Church station without imposing costs on the railroad company.

In May 2024, NJT was granted $83 million by the Federal Transit Administration aimed at rebuilding the station to improve accessibility, facilitating upgrades that ensure adherence to modern accessibility requirements.

Station layout

There are two low-level platforms at this station that serve all three tracks.

See also

• List of New Jersey Transit stations
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, New Jersey

External links

• Station House from Google Maps Street View
• Harrison Street entrance from Google Maps Street View