Roxborough’s Shawmont Station, a 200-year-old railroad depot, is slated to become a train museum
Shuttered for more than 30 years, the city and SEPTA aim to give the site new life.
The tracks of the Manayunk/Norristown line run inches from the front door of Roxborough’s Shawmont Station, considered the oldest passenger railroad depot in the United States — but nobody has boarded a train there in more than 30 years.
SEPTA recently proposed to lease the old building to Philadelphia for $1 in annual rent. It would reopen as a museum and community center after the city government spends an estimated $971,658 to restore utilities and rehab the interior of the station.
“We look forward to returning a long-vacant building to productive use, reducing the potential for vandalism, and enhancing a prominent property located near the entrance to the Schuylkill River Trail,” said SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer.
In 1834, the house, located at 7700 Nixon St., was owned by a lumber merchant who began using it as a station for horse-drawn passenger service on the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Co. There was also a steam locomotive, but the horses proved useful in muddy weather.
“It’s the oldest passenger station in the country,” said John Johnstone, resident historian for the Historic Shawmont Station Society, a preservationist group.
“An argument is made for the oldest being a B&O station in Ellicott City, Md., but that was built as a freight station in 1831 and was not remodeled as a passenger station until 1856,” Johnstone said.
The station building itself has been closed to the public since 1991 because it was deteriorating and had a narrow platform and almost no parking.
Besides second-floor living quarters for the station master, the building had a waiting room, baggage area, and post office.
For several years, trains no longer were regularly scheduled for Shawmont Station. It was a so-called whistle stop, and trains picked up and discharged passengers on request.
In 1994, SEPTA proposed shutting it down for good. At the time about 14 people boarded there on weekdays.
Roxborough rallied for its historic station, and City Councilmember Michael Nutter, who later became mayor, leaned on SEPTA to keep it open.
It lasted two more years before SEPTA abandoned the stop.
Roxborough has pushed for the station to be rehabbed and preserved ever since. It was listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2008, keeping it from demolition.
In 2023 SEPTA finished restoring the Greek Revival-style exterior of the building, installing a new roof, porch and canopy, windows, stucco, and other improvements.
City Council needs to pass a law to lease the property from SEPTA and begin interior work. Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who represents Roxborough, has championed the project.
Under the proposal, the city would sublease the station to the Historic Shawmont Station Society, which would operate it, with the city providing maintenance.
