Huntingdon Street station The
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) built the
Connecting Railway in 1867 to connect its main line to the
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad. By the early 1870s,
New York Junction station was established where the Connecting Railway crossed over the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad mainline in North Philadelphia. By the early 1880s, the Reading established
16th Street station a block to the northwest. In 1888, the Reading announced plans to add local stations on the line, including one next to the
Baker Bowl, which had opened as the home of the
Philadelphia Phillies in 1887. By 1891, the company offered service to
Huntingdon Street station as well as 16th Street. The station had two
side platforms serving the line's four tracks, with a small station building facing Broad Street and Huntingdon Street. 16th Street station was closed in the early 20th century.
North Broad Street station In 1928, facing competition from the impending completion of the
Broad Street Line, the Reading decided to replace Huntingdon Street station with a larger station to rival the PRR's nearby
North Philadelphia station. Groundbreaking for
Broad Street station was held on July 31, 1928 and demolition of Huntingdon Street station began immediately. The classical revival station, designed by
Horace Trumbauer, opened as
North Broad Street in 1929. Its grand design reflected pre-Great Depression optimism and plans for redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood. In 1981, the station was heavily damaged by fire. Within two weeks of the closure, demolition of the old platforms was under way. The rebuilt station has two
side platforms serving only the outer tracks, which were chosen to straighten the curved tracks around the former island platforms and thus allow higher speeds through the station for express trains. The pedestrian tunnel was closed and filled; access to the platforms is via ramps from North Broad Street. The station, renamed as
North Broad, reopened at the end of Railworks on September 5, 1993. With the addition of Regional Rail platforms at
Fern Rock Transportation Center for RailWorks, substantially more service to Temple through the Center City tunnel after the conclusion of the project, and sharply reduced service due to only having two platform tracks rather than the previous four, the importance of North Broad declined significantly after RailWorks. By 2001, under 300 riders used the station daily.
Station building reuse In March 1996, the station building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places. That September, Volunteers of America began a $8.3 million renovation to convert the structure into 108 housing units for people transitioning out of homeless shelters. The organization previously had used part of the first floor for adult rehabilitation and counseling programs, but the structure was so deteriorated that only 18% of the floor space was usable. The first residents moved into Station House Apartments in August 1997. == References ==