Commuters heading north of the Middletown train station pass it every day a few hundred feet past the station in the commuter parking lot, but the Middletown Historical Society has taken the time and energy to restore the original train station that has been on the site since 1876.
This weekend, there was a waiting list for persons eager to hear Society President Tom Valenti explain what has been happening inside the three-room structure that is owned by the township and leased to the Society as a haven for many of items in their historic collection. The Society plans to use the station as an exhibit space with an official opening in 2026, coinciding with the building’s 150th anniversary and the nation’s 250th.
The Township Committee and Society agreed on the lease last September, and Valenti, Peter Van Nortwick and other Society members lost no time in beginning interior restoration to portray not only Middletown’s history but specifically the history of the railroad in Middletown as well as the trolley station in Campbell s Junction and numerous other historic sites in the township.
Saturday Valenti and Van Nortwick, along with other Society officers, ran tours every 30 minutes through the station, which includes the main waiting room, the clerk’s office where he told tickets at the window, and the baggage room where merchants brought their wares for the rail trip to New York.
The society president noted the station opened the year after the New York and Long Branch began its route along the Jersey coast, and it is one of only three original stations still in existence on the route, Red Bank and Matawan also dating back to the early era as well.
The Middletown station is the only one in this design, he said, noting the waiting room included a pot belly stove and a window to the ticket office. The building was retired in 1986 and was used first by a non-profit, then the Middletown Police Department, before the society’s current lease with the township last year.
Currently, the station is filled with dozens of pieces of memorabilia including maps, photos, train timetables and schedules, letters, and even a desk from the Campbell’s Junction trolley office when a trolley ran through New Monmouth and Middletown Village enroute to Red Bank.
“We have been looking for a physical home for quite some time, and are very grateful to the mayor, Township, and Police for making the historic train station available to us, “Valenti said. “We can’t wait to provide this new historical resource to the people of Middletown.”
Valenti said work is continuing on restoring and maintaining the building, with grants sought to cover costs. Next projects to be funded and completed include the roof, currently covered with asphalt shingles, gutters and doors. He invited any interested persons who want to play roles in the restoration and preservation of the historic building to contact him at the Middletown Historical Society’s webpage. Volunteers are especially needed for fund raising ideas, and restorative work.
“As Middletown Township celebrates its 360th birthday this year, and the nation honors its Sesquicentennial in 2026, it’s the perfect time to partner with the Middletown Township Historical Society to use this historic building as a museum to showcase our rich heritage,” Middletown Mayor Tony Perry had said earlier, in supporting the restoration by the Society.
Valenti also extended an invitation for all to become members of the active historical society. Further information is available by visiting the society’s webpage at Middletown Township Historical Society.
The Society also maintains pictorial history of Middletown in the main foyer of the Middletown town Hall, Kings Highway.
The Society was officially registered with the State of New Jersey as a non-profit corporation on May 28, 1968, with federal 501(c)(3) status following. Its first project was securing the Shoal Harbor Museum which has served as the Society’s headquarters and meeting place and was opened to the public as a marine and folk museum.
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