Douglaston station was originally built on October 27, 1866 by the North Shore Railroad of Long Island, a subsidiary of the New York and Flushing Railroad that named it Little Neck Station. A depot at the station was built in April–May 1867 at the expense of William P. Douglas, owner of most of the land in the area, and was named Douglaston in his honor, though the station was listed on timetables as "Little Neck" from 1866 to June 1870.[4] The depot was repaired and furnished with a freight platform in June 1870, and it was made into a two-story building in the summer of 1871.[4]
In 1870, a new Little Neck Station was built east of this one at its present location by the Flushing and North Side Railroad, and the existing station was renamed for land-owner and developer William P. Douglas.[4] In 1887, Douglas himself replaced the original station and built a Queen Anne-style building for $6,000.[4] The original depot was moved to a private site on Little Neck Parkway, where it was still in use as a storehouse in 1914.[4]
Long after the F&NS was acquired by the LIRR, the Douglas-built depot was torn down and replaced with a one-story Mid-Century modern station house in 1962, as was the case with many LIRR stations during the 1950s and 1960s.[5] In this case, the previous station was genuinely in poor condition, and the newer station was designed by a local resident Allan Gordon Lorimer, and accepted both by the LIRR and Douglaston residents. The wooden shelters were replaced with matching tunnel entrances.[6] Aside from the high-level platforms and the addition of MTA Ticket Vending Machines, the station has remained in the same condition ever since.
Station layout
The station has two at-grade high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long.
