Cuba, New York

Cuba, New York was a station on the Erie Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad.  The 1886 map below shows the route of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia (later the Pennsylvania Railroad) in red and the New York, Lake Erie and Western (later the Erie Railroad) in green.  Cuba was also the southern terminus for the short-lived Tonawanda Valley and Cuba Railroad which is not shown on this map.

An 1899 gazetteer of towns on the Erie Railroad has this to say about Cuba:

"CUBA, Allegany Co., N.Y. From New York, 383 miles; Hornellsville, 51; Dunkirk, 77. Agricultural. Population, 1,400. 4 churches; 2 schools; 2 hotels; 1 bank. The last spike in the construction of the Erie was driven at Cuba, April 21, 1851, by Silas Seymour, engineer in charge of that division. Cuba was the terminus of the Erie for five months pending the completion of the road from Dunkirk east. After the close of the War of 1812, emigration became extensive from the Eastern States to Ohio. The direct route from the Hudson to the Allegany through New York State was from Albany to Utica, then to Canandaigua, and from that point to Angelica, or Cuba, thence to Olean Point, from which the Allegany River conveyed them to the Ohio. Oil Creek, a tributary of the Allegany River, rising in the historical oil spring near Cuba, was preferred by the emigrants to the wretched roads. They would come to Cuba in the fall or in the spring, where they would wait for the first freshet in the creek. To accommodate them, boats of logs and planks, 16 to 24 feet long, were made by local builders at Cuba, and sold for from $30 to $50 each. These boats would carry five persons each with their goods, and the emigrant would make the trip to the Allegany at Olean Point, and thence down the river."

Erie Railroad

This 1907 postcard shows an Erie locomotive passing over a viaduct in Cuba.
A 1909 photo from the Syracuse University collection.
A 1909 photo from the Syracuse University collection.
This 1972 photo shows the Erie station in Cuba.
This 1910 photo postcard shows the Erie station.

Pennsylvania Railroad

The 1886 map below shows details of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad station in Cuba.  This area was on Water Street at the foot of Canal and Hardy Streets.

A 1910 postcard of the PRR station in Cuba

References