Built in 1916, Ridgewood Station is a fine and possibly unique New Jersey example of the Mission Revival style first popularized in California during the 1890s, with round arch arcades, shaped parapets with a curvilinear outline, smooth stucco walls, and a Spanish tile roof integrated throughout the complex. Engineer Frank A. Howard had once worked in California for the Southern Pacific and brought that state's stylistic conventions east, although Mission Revival construction was common for lines such as the Southern Pacific, Topeka, and Santa Fe and rare for an eastern line. The Erie Railroad built the station on its Main Line, which had grown from two predecessor railroads: the Paterson & Hudson River Railroad, chartered in 1831 by Paterson businessmen to ship goods from Paterson to Passaic and extended through Bergen Hill to Jersey City in 1838, and the Paterson & Ramapo Railroad Company, chartered after Erie built west from Piermont to Suffern, N.Y., so it could connect with that spur. By 1852, the Erie Railroad controlled both Paterson-based railroads. A grade separation project at Ridgewood, which produced the bridge at the south end of the station, was a hard-fought victory for the village because the railroad agreed to fund less than half of the total cost. Ridgewood has long been an important commuter stop, and before long-distance western service ended, travelers could go from Ridgewood to Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati without changing trains. In 1984, Ridgewood Station was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and is recognized as a local landmark.