Then and Now: Revealed
The location of last week's then and now photo is revealed.
Last week's photo was of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station that used to be located on Market Street where the West Chester Railroad Company now runs.
Two users left comments and both guessed correctly.
User Eric Lewis wrote:
PRR Market St station, torn down in 1968.
Followed by:
Check out those window mount air conditioners. They even have 2 units in one window.
Frequent Then and Now commentor Jim Salvas wrote:
Now there is a sad loss. It looks like the old station was already being allowed to decay when this photo was taken.
Thanks for everyone that read or participated, and please check back in next week for another round of Then and Now.
Catherine Quillman
12:40 pm on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Thanks for posting the photo. The demolishment of this formerly beautiful building is on par with the Warner Movie theater. It was a major architectural lost. THe following is from my walking tour.
This site has been partly preserved
by the West Chester Railroad
Heritage Association, an all volunteer,
non-profit corporation that operates a tourist railroad here.
Despite a major fire in 1885, the former massive rail station, complete
with Palladian windows and protective eaves, remained relatively unchanged
from 1885 to 1968. Its demolishment in June, 1968 was a major
architectural loss to the borough.
After the fire in 1885, the local newspaper reported that many
improvements were being made to the depot including the installation of
new gas lamps and “air” vents as well as galvanized screens in the waiting
rooms. Other improvements to the station, which one reporter described
as being “fitted up in a grand style,” included steam heat and the addition
of a third floor. An inscription was set above the main door that read:
West Chester & Philadelphia RR Depot Via Media. The passenger shelter
was also equipped with new electric lights in 1886.
At its peak in the 1920s, the depot handled about 6,000 passengers
a day, but by the time it closed in 1965, ridership had declined to a
weekly average of 320 people, mainly because of poor service and poor
management of the line, according to historian Jim Jones.
Catherine Quillman
12:50 pm on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
The photo I posted of the station with porter is from the Chester County Historical Society. It shows the station in better days - around 1900.
Note the black porter and the carriage marble step he is standing on.
Jake Speicher
12:52 am on Thursday, October 4, 2012
As always, thanks Catherine.