Spring Garden Street station

Spring Garden Street
The abandoned station in September 2020
Line(s)	Ninth Street Branch
History
Opened	January 29, 1893
Closed	November 6, 1984[1]
Former services (SEPTA) Preceding station SEPTA Following station Reading Terminal Terminus Bethlehem Line Temple University toward Allentown Chestnut Hill East Line Temple University toward Chestnut Hill East Newtown Line Temple University toward Newtown Lansdale/​Doylestown Line Temple University toward Doylestown Pottsville Line Temple University toward Pottsville Warminster Line Temple University toward Warminster West Trenton Line Temple University toward Newark Penn Station
Former services (Reading) Preceding station Reading Railroad Following station Philadelphia Terminus Main Line Columbia Avenue toward Pottsville Bethlehem Branch Columbia Avenue toward Bethlehem Chestnut Hill Branch toward Chestnut Hill New York Branch Columbia Avenue toward Bound Brook Norristown Branch Columbia Avenue toward Elm Street

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 built 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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

As of March 2021, there is movement underway to demolish the building. Reading International, the successor company to the Reading Company, has filed the paperwork to demolish the building. On the other hand, Arts & Crafts Holdings, a real estate development company, and nonprofit Scioli Turco in January had sought a conservatorship over the building. Reading International handles the company's legacy properties and rights-of-ways. Arts & Crafts has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to refashion the area into an arts district called Spring Arts.^[5] Nevertheless, Philadelphia's Department of Licenses & Inspections issued a permit to Reading International to demolish the station.^[6]

References[]

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