Why Is It Called a “Station Wagon?”

Have you ever tossed and turned in bed at night unable to get this thought out of your head: “I’ve called it a ‘Station wagon’ since I was a kid. But why station wagon?”

No, neither have I. But I’m reading Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald in short daily email installments from dailylit.com, which is a great site, by the way. If you haven’t visited it and are both a reader and an email addict, I recommend it.

Anyway, I came across a passage in one of the stories where a young man rides by train to a rich college chum’s home and is picked up at the station in an unbelievably luxurious car.

“What a car!” cried John again, in amazement.

“This thing?” Percy laughed. “Why, it’s just an old junk we use for a station wagon.”

And it came to me that station wagons were originally vehicles designed with space for both passengers and their luggage when they’re picked up at a train station.

A Wikipedia entry confirms my explanation.

The first station wagons were a product of the age of train travel. They were originally called ‘depot hacks’ because they worked around train depots as hacks (short for hackney carriage, an old name for taxis). They also came to be known as ‘carryalls’ and ‘suburbans’. The name ‘station wagon’ is a derivative of ‘depot hack’; it was a wagon that carried people and luggage from the train station to various local destinations.

You’ll sleep easier tonight, knowing that.