Old Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Station

Old Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Station. . On the site of the present Market Street Post Office Building stood until the early 1960’s the old Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Station, Harrisburg’s second passenger terminal that exemplified the City’s prominence and traditional role as transportation center in the Northeastern United States. Although the Pennsylvania Railroad had emerged by the mid 19th Century as the industry which would later dominated rail travel, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company would throughout the second half of the 19th Century be a stiff competitor to the “Pennsy” both in freight and passenger service. Founded in 1850 for the shipping of coal from the Commonwealth’s Anthracite regions, the P&R expanded to include passengers to serve the Lebanon and Leigh Valleys en route to New York City. The Railroad’s first depot was built in 1857-58 on the north side of Market Street about where the subway under the existing railroad tracks exists today. This station saw much activity during the Civil War as a point of debarkation for troops mustered at Camp Curtin. The building was replaced in 1904 by a grand neo-classically styled edifice on the south side of Market Street. The building exemplified the majestic high-ceiling stations of the early 20th Century. Both the Philadelphia and Reading and the Pennsylvania Station around the corner at Fourth and Chestnut Streets were the center of a tremendous amount of rail travel through Harrisburg (illegible) the 1920s. The reading Railroad as it became known after it separated from the P&R through antitrust litigation, declined after World War II in both passenger (mostly illegible to end).