National Register of Historic Places

Bradley Beach Station

Bradley Beach, Monmouth County, New Jersey
Listed
June 21, 1984
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
84002749

About this property

Bradley Beach station is an active commuter railroad station in the eponymous borough of Bradley Beach, Monmouth County, New Jersey, Located at Railroad Square, Bradley Beach station serves trains of NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line between Bay Head in Ocean County and New York Penn Station. Bradley Beach station is on the diesel only section of the line south of Long Branch. The station has a pair of low-level side platforms, one of which parallels Memorial Drive and has the standing Central Railroad of New Jersey depot on the inbound platform. A parking lot surrounds the station depot, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and hosts a café. Built on a site owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, Mayor James A. Bradley of Asbury Park spent $1,500 to build a new station on their property. The station was little more than a small shanty formerly used as a lecture hall at the Asbury Park Excursion Grounds. Bradley Beach station opened to pomp and circumstance on June 24, 1893. Repeatedly promised a new station by New York and Long Branch Railroad Superintendent Rufus Blodgett, no progress was made until the railroad came under the supervision of Lee W. Berry. A point of contention in building a new station was the lack of Sunday service in the area because of an agreement between the railroad and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Sunday service began at Bradley Beach station on July 4, 1912 and a new station opened under a month later. The Camp Meeting Association attempted twice (in 1919 and 1920–1921) to gain possession of the station grounds due to a violation of the 1893 agreement. Bradley Beach gained title of the depot square in May 1921. In 1938, the station name was renamed Bradley Beach–Neptune after repeated complaints by Neptune Township for representation. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1984 as part of the Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource. Following the elimination of the ticket agent at Bradley Beach on July 1, 1981 as part of greater cuts, the station depot went into a state of neglect with the windows being boarded up and covered in graffiti. After municipal pressure to get the station renovated, NJ Transit started a project in 1996 and finished it in June 1997 to have the depot re-opened.

Location

Bradley Beach, Monmouth County, New Jersey
40.20375, -74.01872

Categories

TRANSPORTATIONARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Bradley Beach Free Public Library
Industrial
0.2 mi
Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association District
Listed
0.6 mi
Steinbach-Cookman Building
Industrial
1 mi
Winsor Building
Industrial
1 mi
Trinity Church
Industrial
1.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Bradley Beach Station listed on the National Register?

Bradley Beach Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1984.

What type of historic resource is Bradley Beach Station?

Bradley Beach Station is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Bradley Beach Station?

The period of significance for Bradley Beach Station is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Bradley Beach Station?

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