Mill Plain station was built in 1881 by the New York & New England Railroad for their line extension to the Hudson River. It can be deduced the station was most likely built by Leman Oatman of Hartford, Conn. because of an almost identical station he built in Newtown the same year, and because he was responsible for the construction of most stations on the western side of the NY&NE. The station featured a surrounding boardwalk and a long passenger platform connecting it to an adjoining freight depot. Mill Plain stayed in use until the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad ended passenger service on the line around 1928.

In 1930, the building was purchased by Danbury dog warden Jeremiah J. Coffey, and moved to the corner of the Danbury-Brewster state road and the road to Ridgebury, known today as Route 6 and Old Ridgebury Road, respectively. Mr. Coffey planned to use the building as his residence, and sometime after its relocation, wings were added to the back and sides of the original building.

The building later became the Best Round Golf Car Repair shop until a few years ago when the property was sold and the building was donated to the museum. This is the first project of this scale our museum has been able to undertake. Salem Preservation of Ridgefield Conn. was contracted to coordinate the removal of the wings, which unintentionally shielded those sides of the station and helped preserve the original structure. Once the wings were removed, the building was prepped for relocation to Danbury Railyard, where a new foundation was poured and new floor joists laid. The building’s roof was disassembled and the four walls were individually craned onto a truck and moved to the yard where they were reassembled on the awaiting foundation and joists.

At the time of writing, this the four walls and roof have been reassembled. Volunteers have been diligently scraping paint, while eight additional canopy brackets are being replicated to allow for completely weatherproofing the building. While the ultimate use of the building has not been decided yet, we will be insulating and installing electric receptacles to allow for flexibility in the future. This station is a prime example of Danbury’s early railroading history, and we are proud to be saving it in accordance with the intentions that our museum was founded upon.