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Oakbourne station

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Oakbourne
Oakbourne station, c. 1907.
General information
LocationOakbourne Road
Westtown Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates39°56′31″N 75°34′20″W / 39.9420°N 75.5722°W / 39.9420; -75.5722
SystemFormer Pennsylvania Railroad station
OwnerWest Chester Railroad
LineWest Chester Branch
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Construction
Platform levels
1
History
Opened1859[1]
Closed1961
RebuiltSeptember 1871[2][3]
ElectrifiedDecember 2, 1928[4]
Former namesLecompton (1859–c. 1863)[1][5]
Hemphill (c. 1863–March 24, 1885)[6]
Former services
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
West Chester
Terminus
 West Chester Line Westtown
toward Suburban Station
Location
Map

Oakbourne station is a defunct railroad station on Oakbourne Road in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania. Established by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it closed in 1961 and was subsequently demolished. SEPTA Regional Rail later used the line for R3 West Chester Line, but did not use the Oakbourne stop.

History

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Oakbourne station was initially called Lecompton station, and later Hemphill station after a neighboring landowner, but was changed to Oakbourne when a post office was established in 1883, with Ellen Jane Speakman serving as postmistress. During the American Civil War, the station was used as a marshaling point for the neighboring Camp Elder, which housed Union prisoners captured by the Confederacy and unofficially paroled during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.[1]

A sign left by the members of the West Chester Railroad to commemorate the torn down Oakbourne station. The sign is on a catenary pole near the former station site.

A post office was located in the station building until it closed on December 10, 1928, when Ellen Speakman retired.[7] A small single-track siding served as a freight yard for the Oakbourne Epileptic Hospital and Colony Farm and other local industries. Service to the station was terminated in 1961, and the building was razed several years later. Later in the station's honor, the West Chester Railroad has affixed a small “Oakbourne” station sign to a nearby catenary pole in the style of those made by the Pennsylvania Railroad.[8]

SEPTA subsequently took over the Pennsylvania Railroad route for SEPTA Regional Rail's R3 West Chester Line. However, it did not reopen the Oakbourne stop. SEPTA discontinued regular passenger service to the line in September 1986, due to deteriorating track conditions and Chester County's desire to expand facilities at Exton station on the Paoli/Thorndale Line.[9] The West Chester Railroad heritage railway restored the line for weekend excursions in June 1997,[10] but does not use Oakbourne station.

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 Hoppe, Jonathan L. (Winter 2014). "Oakbourne Station and its Environs" (PDF). Westtown Gazette (Winter 12): 5. Retrieved September 20, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Domestic News". The Village Record. West Chester, Pennsylvania. June 10, 1871. p. 4. Retrieved September 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Local News". The Jeffersonian. West Chester, Pennsylvania. September 9, 1871. p. 3. Retrieved September 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Electric Trains to Start Sunday". Chester Times. November 30, 1928. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Johnson, John (December 5, 1863). "Small Farm at Public Sale". The Record. West Chester, Pennsylvania. p. 3. Retrieved September 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Its Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context: 1885" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 16. Retrieved September 20, 2026. Mar. 24, 1885 – Hemphill renamed Oakbourne on PW&B Central Division.
  7. ↑ "Oakbourne P.O. Passes Into History". Daily Local News. West Chester, Pennsylvania. December 11, 1928. p. 1. Retrieved September 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ James, Arthur E. (January 22, 2020). A History of Westtown Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania — From Farmland to Suburbia: Westtown Township (PDF) (Revised digital edition (originally published 1973 by The Chester County Historical Society) ed.). Westtown, Pennsylvania: Westtown Township Historical Commission. p. 50. Retrieved September 20, 2026.
  9. ↑ "The Potential of Rail Service to West Chester Borough: A Report of the Advisory Ad Hoc Committee to Reestablish Rail Service to West Chester". Borough of West Chester. September 22, 2015. p. 24. Retrieved September 20, 2026.
  10. ↑ "West Chester Railroad Co. Embarks on its Inaugural Run". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 8, 1997. p. CC1. Retrieved September 20, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
[edit]
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