By Ed Kaminski Maywood Station Museum Celebrated its 5th Anniversary at the October 4, 2009 Open House At the October 4, 2009 Museum Open House, the Maywood Station Historical Committee celebrated the 5th Anniversary of the Maywood Station Museum. The museum originally opened on September 25, 2004 after over tenthousand volunteer hours were spent by the MSHC restoring the landmark station starting in June 2002. Before the Museum Open House, a new historic marker was unveiled at Maywood Station signifying its status as being listed on the National Register and State of New Jersey Register of Historical Places. Also, a dedication of New York, Susquehanna & Western ALCO S-2 Locomotive #206 was conducted to celebrate its recent placement on the State of New Jersey Register of Historical Places. The MSHC acquired the locomotive in October 2008 and has been working on restoring it since. The MSHC 2009 Year in Review I’m pleased to report that Maywood Station Historical Committee has concluded our best year since the opening of the museum on September 25, 2004. Fortunately, the depressed economy has not prevented visitors from attending open houses and experiencing all of the museum offerings. We set our alltime highest attendance total in 2009 with 2289 visitors. Our previous totals were year 2008 – 1982, year 2007 – 2142, year 2006 – 1967 and in year 2005 – 1621. Aside from the 8.7% increase in visitor attendance over 2008, the museum saw a 46% increase in revenue from museum open houses. Each of the museum’s scheduled six Sunday open houses from April through November were well attended as was our Annual Santa at Maywood Station in December. Highlights of the year included MSHC member Ed Quinn’s U. S. Coast Guard exhibit at the April and May open houses, Maywood Day in June, Annual Railroad Day in August, the 5th Anniversary of Maywood Station Museum in October and MSHC member Doug Dezso’s Vintage Candy Container exhibit in November. We already have several new exhibits planned for our 2010 museum open schedule and new displays will be added throughout this upcoming winter. In early April, we released the Maywood Station Story documentary on DVD and it won The County of Bergen Historic Commendation Award in the Category of Education. The DVD has been received extremely well by the public and we’ve had to have it re-run twice due to demand. This was followed with word in June that New York, Susquehanna & Western S-2 Locomotive #206 was nominated by State of New Jersey Historic Preservation Office for placement onto the State of New Jersey Register of Historic Places. NYS&W S-2 #206 was formally added on the State of New Jersey Register of Historic Places on September 10th and a dedication was held at the 5th Anniversary of the Maywood Station Museum Open House. NYS&W S-2 #206 is currently being considered for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. MSHC members have worked tirelessly restoring NYS&W S-2 #206 since October 2008 when it was moved to Maywood Station. 2009 also brought numerous additions to the museum’s collections and several displays inside the station were changed. Inside Caboose #24542, the majority of the scenery on the operating model train layout was completed and at the October 4 open house, an 89-car coal train was run marking the longest train yet operated for visitors. Looking ahead to 2010, we will be continuing the restoration of NYS&W S-2 #206 and have some new projects on the drawing board. We also expect to further change displays inside the museum and in Caboose #24542. I want to thank all of our membership for continuing to take pride in maintaining and preserving Maywood Station and continuing to set goals to improve the museum. I also want to thank all of those who continue to support the Maywood Station Museum At Maywood Station's 5th Anniversary Open House on October 4, 2009, Maywood Mayor Tim Eustace (left) breaks a bottle of champagne on the coupler of NYS&W S-2 #206 during a dedication of the locomotive in recognition of being placed on the State of New Jersey Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Keith Smollin) 21
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