An active 1903 Renaissance Revival NJ Transit station built atop the site of an 1868 Morris & Essex coal-train wreck whose engineer Nathan Nichols became the centerpiece of a widely syndicated phantom-locomotive legend.
25 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter the public concourse; tickets only required to ride NJ Transit services.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Active rail station with platforms, stairs, and elevators; ADA-accessible.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1903 · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (June 1984) · Designed by Frank J. Niles in Renaissance Revival style · Successor to the 1836 Morris & Essex original depot · Site of the September 26, 1868 Morris & Essex coal-train wreck
Newark Broad Street Station sits at 25 University Avenue in downtown Newark. The first station on this site opened November 19, 1836 as the eastern terminus of the Morris and Essex Railroad. A larger 1873 depot replaced it, but the line's growth and a major early-1900s grade-separation project required complete redevelopment.
The current Renaissance Revival headhouse was designed by architect Frank J. Niles and built between 1901 and 1903 by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Its red-brick walls, rusticated limestone base, voussoirs, lintels, quoins, pilasters, and distinctive campanile mark it as one of the most architecturally significant surviving Beaux-Arts/Renaissance Revival stations in New Jersey.
The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1984. It is currently operated by New Jersey Transit and serves as a major hub for the Morristown Line, the Gladstone Branch, and the Montclair-Boonton Line, with light-rail connections via the Newark City Subway.
The site is also tied to one of the most documented railroad accidents in Newark history. On September 26, 1868, a Morris & Essex coal train of 36 cars lost control on the steep grade descending into the city. Engineer Nathan Nichols, who remained at his post, was killed when the runaway locomotive collided with another train near Park Street and derailed into a dwelling at Spring and Division streets. Later that same night, flagman Michael Burns was struck and killed by another coal train while attempting to clear pedestrians from the Broad Street crossing. Both deaths were covered in the Newark Courier and other contemporary papers.
Sources
The phantom-locomotive legend at Broad Street Station traces directly to a documented disaster. Per Brom Bones Books research and contemporary newspaper coverage cited there, on September 26, 1868 a Morris & Essex coal train of 36 cars lost control on the wet grade descending into Newark. Engineer Nathan Nichols stayed in the cab and was killed when the runaway locomotive collided with another train at Park Street and derailed into a dwelling at Spring and Division streets. Flagman Michael Burns died later that night when he was struck by another coal train while shepherding pedestrians at the Broad Street crossing. Nichols's funeral was held at the Eighth Avenue ME Church under Reverend Charles E. Little, with burial at Newark's Evergreen Cemetery.
Five years later, in February 1873, newspapers began reporting a phantom locomotive at Broad Street with Nichols visible at the throttle. Coverage citing the Newark Courier was syndicated nationally, reaching papers in Maine, Virginia, Ohio, and Tennessee. Many syndication reprints corrupted the wreck date from September 26 to the 'tenth of each month,' creating the canonical 'anniversary ghost train' framing that ghost-tour operators still repeat (Brom Bones Books; US Ghost Adventures).
HauntBound research confirms Nichols and Burns are documented historical fatalities of an event independently reported in 1868 newspapers, the wreck site and station are correctly identified, and the legend's distortion is the date drift in 19th-century syndication rather than a fabricated identity. The story is one of New Jersey's earliest and most canonical anniversary-ghost railroad legends.
Notable Entities
Visit the Renaissance Revival headhouse of an active NJ Transit station; admire the Frank J. Niles 1901-1903 architecture from the public waiting area while observing standard transit-hub rules.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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