The station was the first to arrive in the town, being built by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and opened in 1840.

[1] It was built on the main line and had the status of such, not least because of its substantial adjacent goods-handling facility, but within ten years of having been built, its importance was somewhat reduced by the arrival of town centre competition.

It closed just three years prior to Beeching's closure of Dewsbury central, on the last day of 1961.

Its impressive passenger station was located in what is better known today as Thornhill Lees, on the surviving main line.

[2] There is on official record, a possible interest in re-opening this facility in the future.