 Between 1870 and 1879 the Southern Hempstead Branch of the South Side Railroad of Long Island had a terminal station located on Greenwich Street further to the east.The station and the line were abandoned in May 1879, but the station itself was converted into a skating rink that burned down in July 1888.In 1893, the Long Island Rail Road established a subsidiary that ran through West Hempstead between Valley Stream and Mineola called the New York Bay Extension Railroad Company which was merged into the LIRR nine years later.