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Photograph of O & W Railroad Station at Port Ben
Photograph by Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

O & W Railroad Station at Port Ben

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. 11 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1903.

From the record

“The abandoned NYO&W Port Ben station is located at 24 Towpath Road in the Town of Wawarsing, New York, United States. It is a Tudor Revival style building built during the early 20th century by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (O&W).”

Wikipedia article Port Ben station, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 209 National Register listings published here for Ulster County · listed in 2002 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Tow Path Rd., Wawarsing, 12489
  • When was it listed? January 2002
  • Category. building
  • Town. Wawarsing town
  • Architectural style. Tudor Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 01001448 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

169 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 169 fires within 5 miles of O & W Railroad Station at Port Ben between 1992 and 2020, burning about 220 acres in total. 19 started naturally. 23 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined87
Arson/incendiarism23
Natural19
Debris and open burning15
Equipment and vehicle use10
Smoking7
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Recreation and ceremony2
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 1995Smoking2.0 acresNew York Forest Rangersnot named
3 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
2 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
12 September 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.4 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
4 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
30 August 1999Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresNew York Forest Rangersnot named
3 August 1999Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresNew York Forest Rangersnot named

Every fire recorded in Ulster County

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of O & W Railroad Station at Port Ben: 2 prospects, 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Zinc, Lead, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zinc, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Sun Ray Tunnel DepositZinc, LeadProspect
Ellenville MineZinc, LeadPast ProducerVein
Ellenville MineZinc, LeadProspect
Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Wawarsing PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Ulster County

Storms near this property

8 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wawarsing, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 8 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Local fire department reported a downed tree blocking Route 209.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Local fire department reported a tree down on wires at Eastern Correctional Facility.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Two trees were downed in Napanoch.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Trees and wires were downed.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Trees and wires were downed.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Trees were reported down in Napanoch due to thunderstorm winds.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Trees were reported down due to thunderstorm winds in Wawarsing.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWawarsing-Multiple trees and wires were reported down due to strong thunderstorm winds in Wawarsing.

Every storm recorded in Ulster County

Maps showing this location

11 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 01001448 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Ulster CountyAll 209 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.