text: la stazione la stazione ( italian pronunciation : [ la ] , " the station " ) is an italian restaurant and former train station in the village of new paltz in ulster county , new york . the building was the first of two railroad stations constructed in the town of new paltz , and it is the only former wallkill valley railroad station standing at its original location . after a lengthy public debate over whether to place the station to the east or west of the wallkill river , it was built in 1870 on the east bank , within the village of new paltz . the rail line was formally opened during a large ceremony on december 20 , 1870 . a decade later the station had become a popular departure point for the mohonk mountain house by many vacationers , including two u.s. presidents . in the late 19th century , over a dozen stagecoaches ran between the station and mohonk daily . the station burned down in 1907 and was rebuilt later that year . the rise of the automobile caused the railroad to end passenger service in 1937 ; by 1959 the station was completely closed and sold off . after closure , it was used for a variety of businesses , including serving as a public - access television station . freight service along the wallkill valley line continued until 1977 , when the corridor was shut to regular rail traffic . the building was in such a state of disrepair by the 1980s that it was almost demolished , and the nearby tracks were torn up and sold for scrap by 1984 . however , the station avoided demolition and was renovated in 1988 . it was used as a real estate office , and the rail corridor itself was formally opened five years later as the wallkill valley rail trail . in 1999 , the station became an italian restaurant and received its current name , la stazione . the building was expanded in 2003 and served as the setting for a scene in a 2008 mob film . planning and construction 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 . a civil engineering survey to determine a possible route and cost of such an endeavor was undertaken in march of that year . the proposal sparked a controversy as to whether the route would run east or west of the wallkill river in new paltz . the western route was roughly 100 feet ( 30 m ) shorter , and the eastern route would cost $ 25 , 000 more . 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 . bonding for the rail line through new paltz , at a cost of $ 123 , 000 , was completed by january 1869 . 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 . by november 1869 , the gardiner rail depot , to the south of new paltz , was ceremoniously opened by the railroad 's president , floyd mckinstry . the station immediately began to see regular traffic . a second gardiner station was constructed in the hamlet of forest glen , in the northern part of gardiner . the railroad company was contractually obligated to start construction in new paltz by may 18 , 1870 , and work on the new paltz station commenced that day . the depot was designed to be 20 by 80 feet ( 6 . 1 by 24 . 4 m ) . the design included freight and baggage rooms , as well as a water tank and engine house . the station had two waiting rooms , while most stations on the wallkill line only had one . the new paltz station , as with the other wallkill valley stations , was based on " standard patterns ... rather than [ being designed ] by individual architects " . half the station 's lumber came from honesdale , pennsylvania , via the delaware and hudson canal and its framework was raised on july 1 , 1870 . work was completed by september 1870 . john c. deyo had provided the carpentry , snyder and fuller painted it , and john c. shaffer was the contractor . shaffer had also constructed living quarters for the railroad 's workers . the masonry for a bridge over the plattekill creek between gardiner and new paltz was completed by late june 1870 , and trestle work was done by july . beginning in late september 1870 , the railroad had begun laying tracks between gardiner and new paltz . the tracks reached the plattekill creek bridge by the end of october , and the rail line reached new paltz on december 1 , 1870 . opening and early operation the rail line was officially opened in new paltz on december 20 , 1870 , during a day - long celebration . 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 . the station 's telegraph was used to " receive ... election returns " throughout the 1870s . on march 3 , 1880 , four men robbed the station 's safe . they broke into the depot late at night and dragged the safe to the center of the station . they then attempted to drill holes into the safe and explode it with gunpowder , but failing that , cut off one of its sides . the contents of the safe were 300 cigars and a few bills and papers . after the suspects were arrested in poughkeepsie , the local sheriff was reluctant to transfer the suspects to new paltz . the poughkeepsie police were insistent that they be paid immediately for their services . 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 . cigars in the suspects ' pockets were identical to the cigars in the safe , and along with tools recovered from the site , they were used to identify the men . the suspects were brought to a jail in kingston pending the ruling of a grand jury that april . a large crowd gathered at the new paltz depot to watch them depart . the men were described as " of the first water " , possibly " stylish " , 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 " . the men were subsequently convicted . as a result of the burglary , station agent dwight marsh was given a revolver , and it became policy not to keep valuables in the safe overnight . on december 8 , 1880 , another thief broke a window at the depot and stole a box of cigars . two sheds had been built adjacent to the station by 1881 . the land the sheds were built on was purchased the previous year by mohonk mountain house co - founder albert smiley for $ 500 . the sheds were built for the resort 's horses . during this period , as many as 14 stagecoaches each day transported guests between the station and mohonk . the west shore railroad purchased the wallkill valley line in june 1881 , and placed an additional siding by the depot in 1887 to allow daily " special extra - fare trains ... for the minnewaska and mohonk visitors " . president chester a. arthur visited the station with his daughter in 1884 . he was welcomed by the railroad 's director and brought to lake mohonk . president rutherford b. hayes occasionally attended conferences at the mohonk mountain house . in 1892 , several townspeople held a reception for him at the station , giving him " three rousing cheers " . other notable mountain house guests who arrived by train were opera singer ernestine schumann - heink and orator william jennings bryan . a sewage line was installed from the station to the wallkill river in 1905 . springtown station as soon as the station in the village was completed , a second station was built at springtown , a hamlet in the northwestern part of the town of new paltz that once sported " its own post office , church , school , hotel , a gambling den ... and a bevy of bars " . the station was planned to be two stories tall with an area of 16 by 40 feet ( 4 . 9 by 12 . 2 m ) . a 413 - foot ( 126 m ) bridge across the wallkill river to springtown was completed by december 1870 , and the station was constructed at the point where the rail line crossed coffey road . throughout its history , the springtown station was occupied by various tenants who took up residence . the original new paltz station burned down around 4 : 45 a.m. on april 23 , 1907 , damaging freight and killing station agent e. j. snyder 's dog . the fire originated in the office stove , and spread rapidly before local fire companies could arrive . a passenger car was used as a temporary station while the building was rebuilt . by late september 1907 , the concrete foundation and the framework of the new building had been put in place , but work on the interior did not begin until november because the lumber had not arrived . the depot was completely rebuilt by december 31 , 1907 , and in active use by february 7 , 1908 . while the original station had a gabled roof , the rebuilt station was hipped . the direction of the new station 's battens was horizontal ; the original station had had vertical slats . the rebuilt freight house was placed a distance from the depot . the building was not fully rebuilt until 1911 . a house was constructed at the site of the springtown depot the year before it was rebuilt . the new york public service commission , a regulatory agency founded in 1907 , ruled in may 1911 that the new springtown station was adequate . the springtown station had no station agent or freight house . in 1925 , sparks shooting off a passing train caused a fire in springtown that burned down six buildings , causing $ 7 , 000 in damage . the prominence of the new paltz station , as well as the growth of suny new paltz in the village , caused the decline of springtown as a community . closure passenger service along the wallkill valley line ceased in 1937 , due to the increased usage of automobiles . by december 1958 the building ( then owned by the new york central railroad ) was no longer used as a railroad station . it was sold off in 1959 , 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 . under the ownership of the television station , the roof and floorboards were repaired . in april 1977 , the owner of the property , and gold associates , attempted to open the building as a bar . 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 . on december 31 , 1977 , all regular freight service ceased along the wallkill valley line . by the early 1980s the depot had become a " hangout for youths to drink and carouse " and the village considered dismantling it . conrail , at that time the owner of the rail line , removed all tracks along the corridor between 1983 and 1984 and salvaged the steel . renovation robert mark realty bought the former station in 1986 and renovated it at a cost of $ 175 , 000 . work began in october 1987 and was more than halfway done by january 1988 . matt , the architect who had overseen the renovation of the former new paltz opera house as a restaurant , served as the project 's architect . builders served as the contractor . the building 's design follows a shingle style architecture and its sidings are both shingle and clapboard . there are bay windows on the east and west faces , and rafters are partly visible . the building served as a real estate office . 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 . it was at this time the station was given its current name , la stazione . dimarco had previously managed construction for an adjacent restaurant , the gilded otter . he sold his ownership of la stazione in august 2000 . the building is adjacent to a rail trail , and there is a 3 - foot ( 0 . 91 m ) bike rack by the building 's northern end . the village of new paltz purchased its section of the former wallkill valley rail corridor from conrail in 1991 , formally opening it on october 9 , 1993 as a public walkway , the wallkill valley rail trail . the permit allowing la stazione 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 . the village allowed la stazione 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 . in august 1999 , the restaurant was forced to remove a gas tank and gas line that were placed under the trail ; failure to do so could have resulted in the revocation of la stazione 's certificate of occupancy , preventing the building from being operated as a restaurant . in 2001 , the village was experiencing water drainage issues in the area by the restaurant . by early 2002 , the village approved plans for an expansion of la stazione , which addressed the drainage issues ; the restaurant offered to install larger pipes than were necessary in exchange for the village " defray [ ing ] their costs " . when the gardiner station burned down on october 10 , 2002 , la stazione was left as the last former station of the wallkill valley railroad remaining at its original location . the building 's addition was completed in 2003 . a scene from the 2008 mob film front man was filmed at la stazione ; the film 's director , ray , is the cousin of the restaurant 's owner , rocco panetta . the scene featured chris colombo , son of the late joseph colombo , a former boss of the colombo crime family . colombo had previously starred in a 2005 mobster documentary on hbo . the building was added to the new paltz downtown historic district on july 24 , 2009 . former wallkill valley stations binnewater historic district campbell hall ( metro - north station ) kingston , new york railroad stations