Chartiers Branch - Canonsburg, PA - Canonsburg Passenger Station

Research

The station still exists to this day (it is currently used as a fraternal club for The Sons of Italy). The MapQuest satellite photo below shows the station highlighted. It is at the corner of Murdock and Jefferson. The single-line track of the modern-day version of the Chartiers Branch is labeled "Conrail". The Chartiers Creek is visible south of the station. You can click on the photo to go to the MapQuest page showing this view, if you wish to zoom out.

From the roof-top view above, you can see it is a fairly typical small branchline passenger station. The section on the left is longer than the section on the right, and the cross section of the roof line appears to be shorter on the street side than on the track side. So, it is not a perfectly symmetrical design.

History

Canonsburg itself was incorporated in 1802. It had been founded by John Canon who built a flour and saw mill in the area. I have found a reconnaissance fly-over photo on the Internet which was taken on June 5th, 1939. It clearly shows the station in its present location. However, I don't know when it was actually built. Another reference I found was on the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department web site which has a document describing the history of fire fighting in the town. In it there is a reference to the station dated November 13, 1898, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is a reference to the passenger station. There was also a freight station adjacent to the passenger station. The railroad track wasn't completed until May 1871, and I have found no reference indicating that the town had a passenger station then.

Model

I'm currently in the design phase of the structure project.

References