Long Island Railroad - Native American Names

http://www.richmondhillhistory.org/map1.gif  
The Indians called Long Island "Paumanok", which meant "Land of tribute". This name, by the way, is among many others recorded in historical accounts under different spellings; partly because the Indians did not have a written language. 

For example:  Unkechaug (the word "Unkechaug" has had varied historical spellings) The nation is also known as the Patchoag, Patchogue or Patachogue. 

The overall general consensus is that when Long Island was first discovered/settled by the European explorers it was inhabited by 13 tribes or groups of Indians. They all belonged to the great tribe known as the Delaware Indians, belonging specifically to the Algonquin family. A tribe was an independent nation with its own territory (Long Island) leaders, and their language. On the south side, from west to east, were the Canarsee, Rockaway, Merric, Marsapeague, Secatogue, and Unkechaug lived on the south shore. On the north shore were the Matinecock, Nesaquake, Setalcott, and Corchaug (Cutchogue). On the east end of the Island were the Shinnecock, Manhasset (Shelter Island) and the Montauks.

LIRR Heavyweight Parlor Cars 

Number

Name
99 JAMAICA A family of Indians who resided near the bay, south of the Beaver Pond, who were known as the ' Jameco' Indians"
2000 JAMAICA
2011 MONTAUK A name frequently bestowed on high or hilly land throughout New England, and denotes "a place of observation", "a place for seeing (or to be seen) far off"
2012 SHINNECOCK Denotes "a level country" where the Dutch found the tribe encamped in the earliest days of the township. 
2013 PECONIC
2014 AMAGANSETT
2015 CUTCHOGUE
2016 MATTITUCK
2017 AQUEBOGUE
2018 QUOGUE
2019 MORICHES
2020 PATCHOGUE
2021 RONKONKOMA
2022 ISLIP The first people to settle in the area that is now named West Islip were the Secatogue Indians, over one thousand years ago.  So, ISLIP has a more indirect "once removed" connection with Native Americans. Info Jack Deasy
2023 WYANDANCH
2024 COPIAGUE
2025 COMMACK
2026 MASSAPEQUA
2027 MERRICK
2028 WANTAGH
2029 MANHASSET
2030 MINEOLA
2031 NISSEQUOGUE
2032 CAYUGA CLUB
2033 MOHAWK CLUB
2034 SENECA CLUB
2035 ONONDAGA CLUB
2036 ONEIDA CLUB
2037

TUSCARORA CLUB later renamed ONTEORA

2038 SETAUKET
2039 NESCONSET
2040 ASHAROKEN
2041 MASTIC
2042 SAGTIKOS
2043 MATINECOCK
2044 NOYACK
2045 WAUWEPEX Means "place of good water"
2046 ONTEORA An upstate New York Indian name
2047 TECKAWITHA The car was named for an Algonquin - Mohawk woman, whose name may be rendered in English as Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as "The Lily of the Mohawks", 1656-1670, born in Auriesville (now New York), who was canonized a Saint by the Roman Catholic church in 2012.  July 14th is the day the church celebrates her life each year.  Info: Jack Deasy  

LIRR parlor cars that were named after Onteora
and Wauwepex.

Harold Throop worked for the LIRR as the General Manager of the Passenger Department from the
mid-60s until his retirement in 1971; and yes, his signature was on all the tickets. He was the 3rd ranking official at the railroad at that time. 

Approximately 30 of these parlor cars were obtained by the LIRR in the mid-60s. Most of them were purchased from the Pennsylvania Railroad for next to nothing. My Dad was involved in the purchase of these cars, and recalled going to Pennsylvania to look at one of them to determine whether the LIRR should buy it. The railroad's Public Relations department got the job of naming the cars, and decided to name them after locations on Long Island, using mainly Indian names. My Dad went to Paul Blauvelt, the LIRR's Public Relations chief at the time, and suggested that 2 of the cars be
named after Onteora and Wauwepex. Mr. Blauvelt, also an avid Scouter, was enthusiastic about this idea and the cars were so named.

My Dad did not recall the second Onteora car, although it appears that this car (also a fairly old one) replaced the first Onteora car once it was retired. The second Wauwepex car, a modern rail car, was purchased after my Dad retired and the LIRR was made part of the MTA, and he was unaware of the
naming of that one as well. Info: William Throop

LIRR Lightweight Passenger Cars

Number

Name

2000 AMAGANSETT
2048 MANHASSET
2049 MASSAPEQUA
2050 MASTIC
2051 PANTIGO
2052 PATCHOGUE
2053 PECONIC
2054 PONQUOGUE
2055 WANTAGH
2056 WAUWEPEX
2057 WICKAPOGUE
2058 WUNNEWETA
2059 NAPEAGUE
2060 NESCONSET
2061 NOYACK
2062 WYANDANCH
2063 POQUOTT
2064 APAQUOGUE
2065 MATTINICOCK
2066 MATTITUCK
2067 MECOX
2068 MERRICK
2069 MINEOLA
2070 MONTAUK
2071 MORICHES
2072 TUCKAPAUSHA
2073 TUCKAHOE
2074 SAGAPONACK
2075 SAGTIKOS
2076 SALONGA
2077 SEBONAC
2078 SETAUKET
2079 SHINNECOCK
2080 SPEONK
2081 AQUEBOGUE
2082 ASHAROKEN

LIRR Tug Boats

Tug Name Build Date
Montauk                                             1895
Syosset                                 1899
Patchogue                             1907
Cutchogue           1918
Quogue                 1919
Meitowax            1926 One of the names of Long Island derived from
"the land of the periwinkle" or "country of the ear-shell"

 

Current LIRR Stations with Indian Names

LIRR Stations 2014 Station Names - Current Indian Names
Albertson
Amagansett Amagansett
Amityville
Atlantic Terminal
Auburndale
Babylon
Baldwin
Bay Shore
Bayside
Bellerose
Bellmore
Bellport
Belmont
Bethpage
Brentwood
Bridgehampton
Broadway
Carle Place
Cedarhurst
Central Islip
Centre Avenue
Cold Spring Harbor
Copiague Copiague
Country Life Press
Deer Park
Douglaston
East Hampton
East New York
East Rockaway East Rockaway
East Williston
Far Rockaway Far Rockaway
Farmingdale
Floral Park
Flushing Main Street
Forest Hills
Freeport
Garden City
Gibson
Glen Cove
Glen Head
Glen Street
Great Neck
Great River
Greenlawn
Greenport
Greenvale
Hampton Bays
Hempstead Hempstead
Hempstead Gardens Hempstead Gardens
Hewlett
Hicksville
Hollis
Hunterspoint Avenue
Huntington
Inwood
Island Park
Islip
Jamaica Jamaica
Kew Gardens
Kings Park
Lakeview
Laurelton
Lawrence
Lindenhurst
Little Neck
Locust Manor
Locust Valley
Long Beach
Long Island City
Lynbrook
Malverne
Manhasset Manhasset
Massapequa Massapequa
Massapequa Park Massapequa Park
Mastic Shirley Mastic Shirley
Mattituck Mattituck
Meadowlands
Medford
Merillon Avenue
Merrick Merrick
Mets-Willets Point
Mineola Mineola
Montauk Montauk
Murray Hill
Nassau Boulevard
New Hyde Park
Northport
Nostrand Avenue
Oakdale
Oceanside
Oyster Bay
Patchogue Patchogue
Penn Station
Pinelawn
Plandome
Port Jefferson
Port Washington
Queens Village
Riverhead
Rockville Centre
Ronkonkoma Ronkonkoma
Rosedale
Roslyn
Sayville
Sea Cliff
Seaford
Smithtown
Southampton
Southold
Speonk Speonk
St. Albans
St. James
Stewart Manor
Stony Brook
Syosset Syosset
Valley Stream
Wantagh Wantagh
West Hempstead West Hempstead
Westbury
Westhampton
Westwood
Woodmere
Woodside
Wyandanch Wyandanch
Yaphank Yaphank

LIRR Indian Names Locations no Longer Active

Napeague Beach:

Opened: sometime after 1903 for employees of neighboring fish processing plants. Appears as signal stop in special instructions of ETT #27: 6/25/1903. R. Emery states station razed: 12/5/27 and station stop discontinued, however ett #107: 12/26/27 lists station stop in schedule pages but no stops indicated. No longer indicated in ETT #108: 5/23/28 (Art Huneke data)

White Pot Junction:

The Dutch originally colonized New York, shortly afterward in 1652 a group of Englishmen from the Massachusetts Bay Colony came and settled in the Dutch colony. They founded a town they called Newtown, which included Whitepot, which later became Forest Hills. There are two legends that surround the origin of the name Whitepot or Whiteput. The first being The Dutch had named it for the hollow or pit, "put" in Dutch, that was formed by a dry river bed in the area. The second legend is that the land was sold to settlers, by the local Indians, for three white clay pots.

Matawok:

Probably built 1910 with opening of Glendale cutoff located at Fleet St. (formerly White Pot Rd.) under-grade crossing south of Whitepot Jct. listed on ETT #58, effective: 9/8/1910. No indication of station building, no trains indicated as stopping there, and it does not appear on public timetables at all. Last listed on ETT #69, effective. 5/25/13, missing from ETT effective: 5/27/14.  Research: Dave Keller

Station-Matawok-c.1925.jpg (46584 bytes)Matawok (Forest Hills West): A short-lived station immediately east of the junction (Whitepot Jct.) of the Main Line and Rockaway Beach Line. Station at 66th St. Built for the Matawok Land Co. which was developing Forest Hills West. 400' wooden platforms with access by means of two spans over the Main Line and seven spans over the Rockaway Line. Opened 06/25/1922 and abandoned 07/1925   Vincent Seyfried 

There seems to be an interesting history associated with the name "Matawok" referring to the place Long Island. As background, an Algonquian native nation variously identified as Matouac, Matouwac, Metoac (Dutch) or Montaukett (English) inhabited all of Long Island east of the present-day Queens County line

A Dutch map (1635) of Northeast Native territories shows the Matouwac territory of Long Island. 

 

 

 

 

Wampmissick:

4 miles east of Yaphank and 2 miles west of Manor.  Appears on the 1852-53 timetable only.  Also used as a meeting/passing location. 

Appears on an 1855 map as a siding at this location before the name: Wampmissick from 1916 LIRR Valuation Plans and in the LIRR’s 1924 CR4 book which indicated freight siding locations. 
Info: Art Huneke
Miscellaneous LIRR Indian Lore:
Rev.-Paul-Cuffee_Gravesite.jpg (104897 bytes)The grave of  Reverend Paul Cuffee, an Indian of the Shinnecock Tribe. In years past, the LIRR engineers would always toot the horn a few times when passing by the Chief's grave. I believe that tradition has now been lost. Info: Dave Morrison
I'm aware of many more that never made it, just in my Islip locale, for example: Winganhauppauge school and Creek (between Islip/East Islip), Orowoc Creek (Bay Shore), Awixa Creek Area (Bay Shore/Islip), and PENATAQUIT: the former name of Bay Shore (our Boy Scout District name, BTW.) The above all part of the Secatogue tribe.  The list might be endless.... :-) Steven Lynch
"Indian Place-Names On Long Island and Islands Adjacent With Their Probable Significations" by: William Wallace Tooker, Algonkinist