{"id":305280,"date":"2026-10-12T20:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305280\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T20:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:46:08","slug":"shawmont-station-in-philadelphia-could-become-museum-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305280\/","title":{"rendered":"Shawmont Station in Philadelphia could become museum \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A piece of American history hiding in plain sight in Philadelphia could soon get a new purpose \u2014 but bringing it back to life could cost taxpayers nearly $1 million.<\/p>\n

Historic Shawmont Station, considered the oldest passenger train station in the United States, could be transformed into a museum and community learning center under a plan supported by SEPTA and Philadelphia City Councilmember Curtis Jones.<\/p>\n

The former station sits in Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood, just off the Schuylkill River Trail and along SEPTA’s Norristown Line between the Miquon and Ivy Ridge stations.<\/p>\n

Although passenger trains haven’t stopped at Shawmont Station since the 1990s, thousands of people still pass by the historic building daily.<\/p>\n

SEPTA is now leasing the property to the city of Philadelphia for just $1 a year, paving the way for its potential transformation into a museum.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jones plans to introduce legislation to fund the station’s restoration, which SEPTA estimates will cost $972,000.<\/p>\n

“If you are going to educate people, that\u2019s a worthwhile tax expense. I think it adds value to the homes in the area. So we get a little bit of it back,” Jones said.<\/p>\n

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Preserving nearly 200 years of railroad history<\/p>\n

The station’s history stretches back to 1826,when the building was originally a home before becoming a train station.<\/p>\n

John Johnstone, resident historian for the Historic Shawmont Station Society, helped secure the building’s designation on Philadelphia’s historic register in 2008.<\/p>\n

“It looks very much as it did in 1826, the only difference is the center bay window that was put there in 1870 for a telegraph \u2013 so a telegraph operator could sit there,” Johnstone said.<\/p>\n

The station underwent an exterior restoration in 2023, but supporters hope the next phase will make the historic property accessible to the public.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed plan, a nonprofit society would operate the building as a museum and community learning center.<\/p>\n

Johnstone believes the museum could become a popular destination for railroad enthusiasts and neighborhood residents alike.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s great for the community. It\u2019s great for the city. Everybody\u2019s interested in railroad history. We saw the response to \u201cBig Boy\u201d when it went through the area<\/a>. I imagine it\u2019ll be a hit,” Johnstone said.<\/p>\n

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A new destination for the Roxborough community<\/p>\n

Beyond preserving the building, supporters envision a space where visitors, particularly children, can learn about Philadelphia’s railroad history.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019re going to safeguard that so that a kid that might be interested in locomotives might come up there and get a virtual, an actual experience in my district,” Councilmember Jones explained.<\/p>\n

For historian Johnstone, the idea of turning the station into a museum is a relatively recent development.<\/p>\n

“It just seemed like the best thing to have for the community,” Johnstone said.<\/p>\n

While trains may no longer stop at Shawmont Station, the proposed restoration could give visitors a chance to experience a piece of American railroad history for themselves.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNBC10 PhiladelphiaNBC10 Philadelphia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A piece of American history hiding in plain sight in Philadelphia could soon get a new purpose \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-305280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}