The service was extended in 1892 to Essex Fells, when a station was constructed by famed architect Bradford Gilbert at the cost of $3,000 (1892 USD).

By 1962, the Caldwell Branch, and service to Essex Fells had been consolidated to two daytime trains heading to Hoboken Terminal and two back.

With no weekend service, the last train arrived in Essex Fells on September 30, 1966, after the newly formed Erie Lackawanna Railroad got permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to cut several branches, but the closure was not official until October 3, 1966.

After service was terminated, the mayor of Essex Fells requested the Erie Lackawanna tear down the station depot on Oak Lane, and the job was completed just a month later in November 1966.

[8] Railroad service through Western Essex County came through the construction of the Caldwell Railway, a branch of the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad, a line that runs from Jersey City to Sterling Forest, just over the New York state line in Orange County.

This extension would involve going to a community established in 1889 named Essex Fells by Anthony Drexel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Sensing that suburban commuters would benefit from a summer location for those who work in New York City and Newark.

[11] A group of private investors invested in the Roseland Railway,[11] including Theodore Van Antuaf Trotter, a shareholder who donated personal land for the new station.

The other benefit of the establishment of the parish was the new railroad, which they felt would bring new parishioners who would be interested in moving into Essex Fells.

The first service for St. Peter's Episcopal Church came on June 25, 1893 by Dr. Burton Alexander Randall (1858–1932), a professor of otology at the University of Pennsylvania.

[11][15][16] The services in the railroad station caught the attention of Reverend Frederick Carter of Montclair's St. Luke's Episcopal, who supplied clergymen and readers for the church in the depot until 1896.

Constructed in 1872, the original plan was to tunnel through First Mountain in Montclair, running service through Verona, Caldwell and now Essex Fells.

[22] However, Richard McEwan, the man in charge of the Morristown and Erie, denied that the Goulds or the Wabash Railroad were interested in their right-of-way.

[28] The Morristown and Erie also made an agreement with Western Union to equip all the stations with telegraph as well as telephone service.

[30] In 1909, the Erie Railroad established an express train along the Caldwell Branch that would only stop at the Montclair–Erie Plaza station before heading to Pavonia Terminal.

Warren Conklin and Nathan Rosenberg both attempted to rob Essex Fells station of New York City.

[35] On October 17, 1933, Victor Celestey of Newton, Massachusetts robbed the Essex Fells station.

Celestey, a man with a lengthy criminal history, ran 2 miles (3.2 km) into Roseland, where he was brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

[38] In July 1950, the Erie tried again on eliminating passenger service on the Caldwell Branch (along with the New York and Greenwood Lake main line).

[45] However, the Commissioners overturned the decision pending action by the New Jersey State Legislature, extending passenger service on the line for two more months.

[46] However, in early September 1966, the Commissioners overturned the decision, noting the financial struggle of the Erie Lackawanna Railway, who was operating the branch line.

The cut of passenger service on the Caldwell Branch would commence in early October under the order.