Harmony Route station reborn
WASHINGTON — After serving as a post office, an antique store and a deli, a vintage 1908 wooden interurban trolley station that once served passengers on the Harmony Route has been returned to its original condition.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 1 Museum Road, will reopen the station, formerly in Wexford, to the public on Saturday and Sunday.
There will be special tours and talks from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
The building's history will be detailed including the 23 years it was used as a freight/passenger station for the Harmony Route, its relocation to the middle of Wexford and its 83 years as a post office, antique and craft shop and deli. Also detailed will be its relocation last year to Washington and its restoration.
Scott Becker, the museum's executive director, said: “This building is remarkably well preserved and really helps to tell the fascinating story of interurban trolley service from Pittsburgh into the North Hills.”
According Becker, the Harmony Route was an interurban electric railway which operated from Pittsburgh to terminals in Butler and New Castle between 1908 and 1931.
Along the way this line passed through several North Hills communities, including Ross, McCandless, Marshall, Bradford Woods and Cranberry.
At Evans City the line split into its two branches with the western branch passing through Zelienople and Ellwood City on its way to New Castle.
The interurban cars were essentially self-propelled railroad cars with wooden construction and ornamentation.
Becker said the 47-foot-long cars were powered by electricity drawn from an overhead line via a pole on their roofs. They were painted maroon and gold.
One car even came equipped with a movie projector and screen and could be chartered for special parties, Becker said.
The cars could seat up to 44 passengers and came equipped with baggage racks, a water cooler and a coal-burning stove to provide heat during the winter.
The cars could haul freight in a forward compartment, and some only carried freight.
Becker said, “The cars traveled the 37½-mile trip between Pittsburgh and Butler in about an hour and 40 minutes.
“Wexford was a full station, a combination of freight and passenger traffic. It had an agent,” he said. “People got their mail there and had packages delivered there.”
“We found in the attic original bills of lading from 1910, 1911,” said Becker. “Wexford wasn't a bedroom community for Pittsburgh then. It was a farming community. We found bills of lading for barbed wire, boxes of ammunition, screen doors.”
“One of the movers behind the Harmony Line was Russell Boggs of Ellwood City who owned the Boggs and Buhl Department Store in Pittsburgh. He had the trolley stop in front of his store,” Becker said.
“The line's Butler station was that little white building that was on the corner of Cunningham and Jackson streets,” said Pat Collins, the administrative director of the Butler County Historical Society. “It was on a post card. The tier parking garage is where it used to be.”Collins said, “The line from Butler to Pittsburgh ran through the area of the country club. It kind of followed Route 8.”There were stations in Harmony and Zelienople, said Kathy Luek, administrator of the Harmony Museum, 218 Mercer St.“There was one on Spring Street right by Denbach Lumber and the Route 68 overpass,” Luek said. “There are two concrete embankments where the tracks used to run on the north side of the overpass.”In Zelienople, Luek said she believed a trolley station was along Connoquenessing Creek where Main Street ended.Luek said the official name of the trolley line was the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler, New Castle Railroad.“Although post cards show seat backs embroidered with HR,” Luek said.A close cousin to the Harmony Route was the Short Line, a separate interurban line that reached Butler on a route that passed through Valencia and Mars. This line went bankrupt in the mid-teens and ultimately bought by the more profitable Harmony Route. In 1931, when both lines passed out of existence, the bus company that replaced them operated under the name Harmony Shortline.“It closed mainly due to competition from autos and because of the Depression,” said Becker.He said, “Quite frankly, with all the people that live up your way, people could use such a trolley line.”Becker said the next step would be the restoration of a Harmony Route trolley car.Although the times may have past the interurban trolley by, Becker said the Harmony Line still exerts a fascination.“It's amazing how many people are interested in this, in history in general. Of course, there's no one left who rode the line, but people still tell me, 'My mother told me about riding it,'” said Becker.
WHAT: Opening of the restored Wexford station of the Harmony Route interurban trolley line.WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.WHERE: Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 1 Museum Road, Washington, Pa.INFORMATION: The museum is normally open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 18. Admission includes scenic trolley rides, guided tours, trolley era film, exhibits, a picnic area and museum store. Special event hours and admission prices may differ.The Wexford Trolley Station will also be open during the museum's Pumpkin Patch trolley event Oct. 14-16, 21-23 and 28-30. Check patrolley.org for a listing of events.
