MOUNTAIN LAKES — The historic Mountain Lakes Train Station has been awarded $126,000 through the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund’s 2026 grant round, continuing a multi-year effort to restore the century-old depot’s exterior.
The award is a construction grant, one of 35 grants approved countywide this year totaling $4,920,231 for the acquisition, stabilization, rehabilitation, restoration or preservation of historic properties across Morris County.
The Mountain Lakes Train Station was built in 1912 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, with the cornerstone laid by resident suffragist Belle de Rivera. The depot was designed by architect William Hull Botsford under the supervision of Frank J. Nies, the railroad’s head architect, and G. J. Ray, its head engineer. The station is a contributing property to the Mountain Lakes Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and remains an active stop on NJ Transit’s Montclair-Boonton Line.
The 2026 grant builds on previous Trust Fund awards for the site. The station received $30,680 in 2023 to develop design and contract documents for the exterior restoration, followed by $398,172 in 2024 to begin construction on that work. The latest funding will continue the project’s exterior restoration phase.
The Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund has operated for more than two decades, providing matching grants to municipalities, qualified nonprofit organizations and the county for historic resources listed, or eligible for listing, on the State or National Register of Historic Places. The fund is overseen by the Historic Preservation Trust Fund Review Board.
Additional information on the Historic Preservation Trust Fund and a full list of funded sites is available through the Morris County Office of Planning and Preservation.
