The rise of the automobile caused the railroad to end passenger service in 1937; by 1959 the station was completely closed and sold off.

In February 1864, plans were in place to extend the route of the proposed Wallkill Valley Railroad between the towns of Shawangunk and New Paltz.

However, it was felt that the increased economic activity from having the rail line run east of the river, and directly through the village of New Paltz, would offset the expense.

[8][9] The Wallkill Valley Railroad was the first rail line in Ulster County, and was heralded as a cure for the region's isolation from the rest of the industrialized world.

[10] By November 1869, the Gardiner rail depot, to the south of New Paltz, was ceremoniously opened by the railroad's president, Floyd McKinstry.

[16] Half the station's lumber came from Honesdale, Pennsylvania, via the Delaware and Hudson Canal[17] and its framework was raised on July 1, 1870.

[20] The masonry for a bridge over the Plattekill Creek between Gardiner and New Paltz was completed by late June 1870,[21] and trestle work was done by July.

At that time, the Wallkill Valley line was connected to the Erie Railroad's Montgomery–Goshen branch to the south; an inaugural train containing about 350 passengers ran to Goshen, making stops at each station along the way, before heading back to New Paltz.

[28] The day after their arrest, the men were allowed to go to a barber shop for a shave; some witnesses were unable to identify the suspects because of this, and the officers were publicly chided for incompetence.

The men were described as "cracksmen of the first water", possibly "stylish",[note 2] and so proficient at safe-cracking that, "if they [had] any chance at all, or [got] hold of any weapon, they [would] pick their way thro' the jail as easily as boring through a lime heap".

[29] As a result of the burglary, station agent Dwight Marsh was given a revolver,[26] and it became policy not to keep valuables in the safe overnight.

[30] The land the sheds were built on was purchased the previous year by Mohonk Mountain House co-founder Albert Smiley for $500.

[8] The West Shore Railroad purchased the Wallkill Valley line in June 1881,[34] and placed an additional siding by the depot in 1887 to allow daily "special extra-fare trains ... for the Minnewaska and Mohonk visitors".

Other notable Mountain House guests who arrived by train were opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink and orator William Jennings Bryan.

[41] A 413-foot (126 m) bridge[42] across the Wallkill River to Springtown was completed by December 1870,[43] and the station was constructed at the point where the rail line crossed Coffey Road.

[47] By late September 1907, the concrete foundation and the framework of the new building had been put in place,[48] but work on the interior did not begin until November because the lumber had not arrived.

[53] The New York Public Service Commission, a regulatory agency founded in 1907,[54] ruled in May 1911 that the new Springtown station was adequate.

[59][60] It was sold off in 1959,[61] and hosted a number of local endeavors, serving as a chapter house for the Knights of Columbus and as an office for a public-access television station.

Their zoning permit was rejected; the village mayor was "unalterably opposed" to the prospect, and the board believed the proposed bar would lead to complaints from nearby apartments.

It was also believed that it would be unsafe to open a bar adjacent to an active rail line, and that such a venture would threaten the nearby Huguenot Street Historic District.

[67] On February 9, 1999, the village approved a plan to allow the building to open as a 36-seat Italian restaurant under the co-ownership of two men, Jeff DiMarco and Rocco Panetta.

[73] The permit allowing The Station to operate as a restaurant also required the placement of a sign in the building's parking lot to indicate the presence of the trail.

[69] The village allowed The Station to place a public picnic table under an overhang by the rail trail, on the condition that the restaurant did not provide outdoor food service.