The freight house and post office were central businesses in small railroad communities. In 1864, a year after the first train came through, a combination passenger and freight station was built near Kenwood Avenue, and it remains today. In 1888, the building was moved to its present site and remodeled as a freight station. A grand passenger station was built that same year where the firehouse stands today. Formerly known as Normanskill, Slingerlands was named for the prominent Slingerlands family who settled here in the 1790s. When the railroad arrived in 1863, Slingerlands was an established hamlet with 520 residents, a post office, stores, and a school. The community soon capitalized on the station, and many railroad executives built their homes here, including Charles Hammond, Director of the Northern Division of the D&H Railroad, who built his Victorian-style home in 1876 within view of the station.