The MSHC 2010 Year in Review Overall, 2010 can be viewed by the membership of the Maywood Station Historical Committee as a somewhat quiet but steady year. Although we did not have a “major project” to work on this year, membership remained busy with many smaller projects including finishing up several details on New York, Susquehanna & Western S-2 #206; changing and enhancing displays inside the museum; and working on cataloging and archiving recent donations. A new display case was also added to the museum in 2010 and the museum’s archive continues to grow. Public attendance figures to the museum’s 2010 schedule of seven open houses between April and November and the Annual Santa at Maywood Station on December 11th set a new record. This year we experimented and reduced the usual Sunday three-hour open house schedule from six dates to four while adding three Wednesday evening two -hour open houses to the schedule. The museum never tried Wednesday evening open houses in the past and I’m happy to report that they worked out very well and we saw exceptionally good attendance at each one. For the year, the Maywood Station Museum schedule of seven open houses and the Annual Santa at Maywood Station event drew 2351 visitors. This represented a 1% increase from 2009’s total of 2289 visitors and matched up well against previous totals of 1982 in year 2008, 2142 in year 2007, 1967 in year 2006 and 1621 in year 2005. The museum saw a 34% increase in revenue from open houses as compared to year 2009, which was 46% higher than year 2008. The new books Maywood - The Borough, The Railroad, and The Station and continued good sales from Museum Store items such as The Maywood Station Story DVD, holiday ornaments, calendars and Maywood Station models contributed to much of the revenue gains as well as general donations. Some highlights of 2010 included New York, Susquehanna & Western S-2 #206 being formally placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 19th. The locomotive was previously placed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on September 10, 2009. At the Annual Railroad Day at Maywood Station event on October 3, Bergen County Executive, Dennis McNerney, presented the Maywood Station Museum with a proclamation honoring the work that the museum’s volunteer membership has accomplished. The event that day also marked one of the museums largest to date with close to 500 visitors in attendance. Year 2010 also brought many new additions and donations to the museum including the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad’s original Centralized Traffic Control Board and Telegraph/ Telephone circuit board; various railroad paperwork; railroad hardware; and photographs. Some of these items will be worked on through the winter months and appear in the museum in 2011. We look forward 2011 and invite you to visit and experience our museum for the first time if you haven’t in the past, or come and visit us again and see history. Large crowds waited patiently to meet Santa inside Maywood Station at the 9th Annual Santa at Maywood Station event on December 11, 2010. (Photo by Ed Kaminski) On December 11, 2010, NJ Operation Toy Train stopped at Maywood Station before the 9th Annual Santa at Maywood Station event to collect new, unwrapped toy for the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots Toy Drive. Crowds are shown in this photo donating toys onto the train. (Photo by Robert P. Pisani) 13
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