Spring Garden Street station

Spring Garden Street
The abandoned building at left in 2009
History
Opened	29 January 1893
Closed	1984
Services
Former services   Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station Reading Terminal Terminus Chestnut Hill East Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward Chestnut Hill East Fox Chase Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward Fox Chase Lansdale/Doylestown Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward Doylestown Manayunk/Norristown Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward Elm Street Warminster Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward Warminster West Trenton Line Reading Viaduct Temple University toward West Trenton Preceding station   Reading Railroad   Following station Reading Terminal Terminus Ninth Street Branch Columbia Avenue toward Fern Rock

Spring Garden Street station is a former train station in the Poplar neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was built by the Reading Railroad and located on the Reading Viaduct. Service to Spring Garden Street ended in 1984 with the opening of the Center City Commuter Connection, which bypassed the Reading Terminal.

History

Spring Garden Street was build adjacent to the old Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad depot at Ninth and Green, which had opened in 1851. Ninth and Green had been the primary Philadelphia terminal of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad since 1879 and the Reading had outgrown the facility.^[1] To replace it, the Reading constructed the Reading Terminal on Market Street, roughly 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south. Reading Terminal was linked to the existing railway line by a new elevated route carried by the Reading Viaduct. Spring Garden Street was built to serve the elevated route. Both it and Reading Terminal opened on January 29, 1893, although the Spring Garden Street station building was not completed and tickets had to be purchased at Ninth and Green.^[2] Ninth and Green would remain open as a freight-only building until 1909, when it was demolished to permit additional track elevation.

Spring Garden Street remained in use until 1984, when the new Center City Commuter Connection opened.^[3]

References

1. "Old Ninth and Green Streets Depot, Philadelphia, to be Demolished". International Railway Journal. XVII (3): 25–26. June 1909.
2. "Changes in Reading Train Service". Railway World. 19 (11): 246. March 18, 1893.
3. Feldman, Vincent D. (2014). City Abandoned: Charting the Loss of Civic Institutions in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: Paul Dry Books. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-58988-082-5.

Coordinates: 39°57′43″N 75°09′11″W / 39.961943°N 75.153057°W