Freight House

The Kenilworth freight house first appeared in 1918. Notations on the Rahway Valley Railroad’s maps filed with the State of New Jersey suggest that the structure was relocated to Kenilworth from another point along the Rahway Valley Line, informally known as the Newark Heights Branch, though the precise details of its earlier history remain unknown.

The freight house stood directly on the main line, an arrangement that reflected both the railroad’s modest scale and its practical operating habits. Boxcars spotted at the freight platform necessarily fouled the main track, and less-than-carload shipments were unloaded here for pickup by local consignees. The building also served as a repository for goods damaged in transit for their eventual resale or disposal.

With the gradual disappearance of less-than-carload traffic, the freight house lost its original purpose and was relegated to storage. By the late 1970s, it had outlived its usefulness and was dismantled. Constructed of wood, the building measured approximately 16 feet by 33 feet and stood 10 feet high—small in scale, but once an essential part of daily freight operations in Kenilworth.