The bronze plaque marking the location of the Morris Railroad Station was placed in the western end of the Town, as near as possible to where the Morris Station of the Shepaug Railroad once stood. The plaque reads, “Site of MORRIS RAILROAD STATION.” It represents 76 years of part of Morris history.

The first scheduled run from Hawleyville to Litchfield took place January 11, 1872. There were three engines assigned to the line appropriately named – The Waramaug, The Shepaug, and The Weantinaug. The West Morris Store and Post Office were built in 1877 to accommodate users of the train which opened up the area to travelers and summer residents from New York, as well as new freight businesses.

Ice harvested from Bantam Lake was shipped to Bridgeport and New York. The local farmers used the railroad to ship their milk produce daily from the West Morris Platform in milk cans marked with their number. Another business opened up for Morris, the supply of wood for fuel for the engines and for railroad ties. In 1892, two thousand ties were left by the station. Mail was another commodity, coming into West Morris station by train and then transferred by wagon to the other Morris Post Offices.

The railroad service was not too successful financially and finally the last passenger train ran on April 27, 1930 and the last freight rolled out of Litchfield on June 24, 1948. The tracks were removed in 1949 and 1950. Freight train at Morris Station pulled by old 502 Shepaug.

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Editor’s notes with additional photographs: In 1959, The Morris Centennial Committee arranged for the placement of plaques mounted on stone monuments to mark historic sites for buildings no longer in existence. The Morris Railroad Station, built in 1872, was removed about 1938 after the railroad’s passenger service had ended.