Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/78

 62 Whatever minor difficulties may have occurred were quickly forgotten on the occasion of the running of the first train on Monday, August 2, from Flushing through to College Point. Some of the railroad officials and a few invited guests were in the train and were delighted at the smooth track. The inspecting party looked over the half completed College Point depot and the fully finished machine and car repair shops near the depot. On Saturday, August 14, regular service opened between Flushing and College Point with two trips only in each direction, one train in the morning and another in the afternoon. The event was celebrated in College Point with great pomp and ceremony. At 3 P.M. President Poppenhusen and his family, together with the various musical societies and fire companies, moved in procession to the depot to await the arrival of the train from Flushing. As it came along, exactly on time, loud cheers went up, followed with singing by the musical societies and selections by the College Point band. Speeches were then made by Mr. Thomas Daley, Mr. Poppenhusen, and Mr. Franklin, a director. The party on the train then toured the Empire Rubber Works of Mr. Poppenhusen and the newly completed Poppenhusen Institute.

All efforts were now directed towards completion of the remaining mile to Whitestone. For some strange reason three or more weeks went by without any effort being made to lay tracks or build a depot, and a rumor began to spread that nothing further would be done. Finally, on September 16, workmen reappeared on the roadbed and at the turntable. A completion date of November 1 was set, and work began on a temporary depotat Whitestone, to be replaced later by a brick edifice. By October 30, nearly the whole mile extension was ballasted and the rails were about to go down.

On November 27, the road was opened at last. Although the day was dark and quite stormy, a special train, loaded with invited guests, of which about twenty-five were newspapermen, arrived at the Bridge Street depot at noon, where they were joined by the Village Trustees, officers of the road and other guests. A stop of an hour was made at Flushing to permit the city guests to tour Flushing in carriages. Then the train left for College Point and another hour's layover was arranged so that the guests could look over the factories and imposing mansions of