Andover Depot - Andover,NY - Erie Railroad in Allegany Co., NY

A news article in the August 6^th 1915 Andover News had this. “Andover Now Great Shipping Station.” Andover, Allegany County, N.Y., On the Erie Railroad, has become probably the largest shipping station for a town of its size in Western New York, in potatoes, hay, cattle, etc.

Another news article in the January 21^st 1954 Andover News: With the closing of the Erie Station at Andover Tuesday January 19^th 1954 another epoch of Andover history closed.

For years the Erie station was the center of Andover activities with everything coming into Andover and a vast amount of farm produce, cattle and Ice being shipped from here all handled by the railroad.

For a number of years the Andover station held the record for the largest number of potatoes being shipped from here of any point between New York and Chicago. In 1920 the Erie handled 325 carloads of potatoes from this station and the carload shipments of hay, straw, lumber and cattle shipped from Andover would run into an enormous figure. In the boom days of the ice business on the Andover ponds the Prangen Brothers of Hornell sipped about 1,000 cars of ice each winter which was all handled through the local depot.

In the days when the Erie was operating in full force here it took three full time men to handle the depot business. The first of these we can remember were “Gus” Richardson, station agent: “Tim” Regan, freight agent: and “Tom” Regan, operator. Besides the men in the station, the Erie also had a pusher stationed here to help the heavy freights over Tip Top. Charles Rogers was engineer on the pusher with Floyd Richardson, firemen and Patrick Gallagher engine tender. A track crew with Patrick Mulcahy as foreman and C. E. Baker, track walker also operated from Andover.

I won’t go into the wrecks the trains had, we know they happened and many people lost lives and many workers lost lives and body parts due to unsafe work practices and crude devices on the trains.

On one occasion during the first world war a train derailed in Andover causing all other trains to stop until they could clean up the mess. A troop train was stranded in Andover loaded with Army men heading for France to fight in the war. After a few hours the men were getting restless, so it was decided to march them around Andover to give them a little exercise. School was closed along with all of the businesses. Everyone lined the streets to see the men parade from the depot to Main Street. Once there the men put on a drill for the spectators. After the drill the Army men were given coffee, cookies, bananas, cigarettes and magazines.

When the tracks were cleared, the soldiers were marched back to the train and left to go to war. They weren’t allowed to tell their names or where they were from. It was later learned that most of them were from Texas and many died of the flu epidemic and many were killed in the war.

After the war one of the men wrote saying how much it meant to all of the soldiers to be treated so kindly by someone they never knew.

During and after WWI, WWII, Korea, and the Viet Nam wars, the railroads handled many of all organized military travel. They carried millions of soldiers, sailors, marines, and coast guardsmen and women to and from training centers and seaports. They carried millions of members of the armed forces on trips to and from their homes and recreational areas. They also operated numerous hospital trains carrying wounded servicemen and many other trains carrying prisoners or war.

Under the presidency (1901 - 27) of Frederick D. Underwood, the Erie continued to suffer losses, and after a major reorganization (1941) it yielded (1942) a dividend for the first time in 69 years.

In 1953 the Andover depot was shut down - never to open again. Passenger and mail service was discontinued in June of 1965. The building was sold to Baker Brothers contractors. It was torn down in the mid 1990’s.