Hopewell Borough is receiving another boost in funding for the restoration of the borough’s Railroad Station.
The borough announced in early October that the Hopewell Railroad Station project would be receiving close to $147,000 in additional funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust for exterior restoration to the station at Railroad Place which is expected to be completed soon.
The trust was created in the 1960s to preserve historic sites across the state and it is currently affiliated with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
“If you recall the initial estimates were about $500,000 of restoration,” Mayor Ryan Kennedy said on Oct. 7, adding thanks to the borough’s finance team and borough administrator. “We got a grant for half of it and when we got to do the work it was much more expensive than initially anticipated.
“We convinced the state Historic Trust to let us proceed funding part of the project and they worked through a grant for a good part of the remaining balance so we could get the project done before it deteriorated further. Look forward to the completion of [the restoration work].”
The state legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy must approve the appropriation before the grant funds can be provided to the borough.
Hopewell Borough received a previous preservation grant of $250,000 in 2020 from the Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund, which is under the New Jersey Historic Trust and provides matching grants to historic preservation construction and planning projects.
The borough’s share in the Railroad Station project is about $250,000. In 2020, the Borough Council had unanimously adopted a bond ordinance appropriating the funds for station improvements that included roof replacement and repairs, gutters, woodworking, painting, carpentry, and brick repainting.
The three-story train station on Railroad Place was built in 1876 and is a historic National Register-listed property.
According to the Hopewell Living History project, the train station in the 1940s had between 16 to 20 trains a day. However, the train service declined by the 1960s and was reduced to four trains a day.
All train service was discontinued in 1982. The station and the 4.3-acre property changed owners in the mid-1980s from New Jersey Transit to Bernard Fedor, a private developer. By 1993, the borough acquired the station from Fedor.
In 2001, the station opened as a community center following extensive renovations through federal and state grants of more than $1.2 million.
The borough noted that once the current restoration work is completed community use and special events will be able to take place again at the Railroad Station.
