MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—Mayor Joseph DeStefano unveiled a mural evoking Middletown’s long history as a train-centric industrial hub on Sept. 12 at Maple Hill Park.
The mural was created by local artist Alex Mills and adorns the wall of an unused pool building. The spot was chosen because the old pool next to it will be renovated into a train-themed splash pad.
Mills, whose work can be found on Instagram at art.byalexmills, said at the ceremony: “I’m just happy that I got to share some of my artwork with you guys because it means a lot growing up here, coming up in Middletown. So this just means a lot to me.”
The mayor saw the mural as a community builder.
“This mural reflects both Middletown’s proud history and our commitment to creating vibrant public spaces for the future,“ DeStefano said. ”Projects like this bring people together and show the power of art in building community pride.”
Middletown is hoping to install more public art in the city. DeStefano suggested that interested artists contact the city about future projects.
The railroads and trains were vital to Middletown’s development from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century, so much so that the symbol of Middletown is two locomotives, one a classic steam-powered engine and the other a modern diesel.
“It’s our history,” DeStefano told The Epoch Times. “The city was built as an industrial town; it came with the age of industry and the trains. Erie and O&W were the two main train lines. The third one was the Middletown-New Jersey line, which is still operational.”
The first line, the New York and Erie Railroad, arrived in Middletown in 1843 and sped up the area’s development significantly. Milk and agricultural goods from the region could be transported to New York City without spoiling, massively boosting the dairy industry.
The success of shipping dairy to New York brought several smaller regional railroads into being, allowing farmers all over Orange County to ship milk. The 14-mile Unionville and Water Gap Railroad was a major example of a smaller connecting line out to the super rural areas, connecting Middletown through the towns of Wawayanda and Minisink to the New Jersey border in 1867.
More rail lines would open. Middletown connected to Jersey City, Sussex County, the town of Cornwall, and other areas. By the 1880s, Middletown was a major center for transporting dairy, coal, and passengers.
Things started to go downhill for the rail lines starting in the early 1900s. The Unionville passenger line closed in 1913 because of low ridership. Post World War II trucking competition hit trains hard. Several train routes closed because of lower traffic and profits.
In 1983, Middletown abandoned the Erie main line that went through downtown in favor of the Graham Line in Wallkill, now called the Metro-North Port Jervis Line. The line still runs to New York multiple times a day.
DeStefano said moving the main line out of Middletown was unwise.
“[The train line] was relocated outside the city, which I think was a mistake at the time, but well-intended,“ he said. ”But North Jersey kept the train stations in their downtown, and they spurred commerce. They spurred other types of economic development.”
The old Erie train station was renovated by Middletown into the Thrall Library. The big O&W station downtown has been abandoned since 1957. Middletown is beginning to turn the building into a community facility focused on early childhood education. The renovated station will house the Regional Economic Community Action Program’s Head Start program.
