North Philadelphia Station at Broad Street and Glenwood Avenue is an expressive relic reminding us of a golden age when travel meant train rides, whether local or long distance, and the Pennsy was the “Standard of the World.”

Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) constructed North Philadelphia Station near the peak of its prosperity in 1904 as a larger replacement for one nearby that the company built in 1884 as part of its Chestnut Hill branch line, today’s SEPTA Chestnut Hill West line. PRR initially called it Germantown Junction Station. This station also served PRR’s main route from the Philadelphia Zoo (Zoo Junction) to Frankford (Frankford Junction). The Connecting Railway, as the company branded it, was built in 1867 and provided a key link between East-West (Harrisburg/Chicago-New York Harbor) traffic and North-South (Baltimore/Washington-New York Harbor) traffic.

PRR built its grand Broad Street Station in 1881, but servicing this stub end terminal necessitated backing trains across the Schuylkill River from its main tracks on the west bank.  Sharp increases in passenger traffic soon created major delays at Broad Street Station. In 1903, to remedy this problem, PRR constructed an auxiliary station at 32nd and Market Streets (West Philadelphia Station) and, in 1904, North Philadelphia Station, which replaced the smaller predecessor there. PRR commissioned Theophilus Parsons Chandler, Jr., dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Architecture, to design it. Chandler chose a Beaux Arts style popularized in Philadelphia by the 1876 Centennial Exhibition’s Memorial Hall, which is today occupied by the Please Touch Museum.

The new station, clad in buff brick and terra cotta trimmings, consisted of a massive portico with seven entrance bays, their arches supported by granite columns, facing southward toward Glenwood Avenue, three bays facing northeast toward Broad Street, and a track level waiting room with ornamental fountain, cafe, restrooms, and a kitchen. The station was connected to a trolley stop on Glenwood Avenue by a covered passageway. The station had two platforms: one adjacent for northbound traffic and the other southbound platform reached through a basement level tunnel accessed by a staircase. The station also had a separate basement level entrance on the north side of the tracks that connected to the basement tunnel. The new train station resembled a 17th century chateau.

The building’s construction was completed in 1904. However, within a decade, it had become over-utilized. PRR signed a million-dollar renovation contract for the station in 1912 with plans prepared by PRR staff architect William Holmes Cookman. The renovation altered the station’s functional and aesthetic qualities to accommodate its sharply rising passenger traffic levels. The project lasted three years.

The renovations involved lowering the grade of the station grounds by a full story on its south and east elevations (Glenwood Avenue and Broad Street) and exposing the former basement. The arched entrance bays and waiting room would now be the station’s second floor. A marquee was added to shelter passengers arriving through seven entrances facing Glenwood Avenue. The station’s peaked roof was sheathed in slates resembling fish scales. A covered ramp leading to the building’s west wing now led to the Glenwood Avenue trolley station. A large staircase climbed up to the main waiting room now on the station’s second floor. The building’s two side platforms were replaced by modern high level island platforms, each with an enclosed 10-foot-wide waiting room, which were designed to accommodate 12-car trains and had full-length steel platform canopies.

The railroad right-of-way was widened to eight tracks to better handle through and local freight trains, necessitating replacing PRR’s bridge over Broad Street with three parallel bridges. At this time, its name was changed to North Philadelphia Station. Work was completed in 1915.

North Philadelphia Station was heavily used, with 29 trains daily in each direction between New York City and the South and West. 74 local commuter trains were logged daily in 1923. It was the only Philadelphia stop for trains like the Broadway Limited traveling from New York to Chicago, eliminating the need to detour through Zoo Junction down to Broad Street Station. After electrification of the New York-North Philadelphia-Harrisburg corridor, a new Broadway Limited service, debuting in June 1938, cut the time from New York to Chicago to 14 hours.

Broad Street Station continued to provide its own service from Center City to New York and Harrisburg, but North Philadelphia Station provided Philadelphians with an extra level of service that was appreciated by travelers looking for more flexible schedule alternatives. Senator George Wharton Pepper wrote in his autobiography, Philadelphia Lawyer, of using the convenient station when in a hurry to New York or Harrisburg. North Philadelphia Station also serviced vacationers bound to New Jersey seashore resorts via the Delair Bridge over the Delaware River and sports fans attending games at Shibe Park and Baker Bowl. When the Broad Street Subway was completed in 1928, a stop was included at North Philadelphia Station. Its passenger traffic peaked during World War II.

North Philadelphia Station’s decline after the war can be attributed to competition from civil aviation for the long-distance traveler. Philadelphia had initiated scheduled passenger flights daily to and from Washington, D.C. as early as 1926 during the Sesquicentennial Exhibition using the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard’s Mustin Field adjacent to the fairgrounds. This alternative gained users at railroads’ expense as larger and more reliable aircraft came into service and cities developed airports. Construction of the interstate highway system begun in the 1950s and made long distance automobile travel and suburban living more convenient. As a result, the entire railroad industry suffered from the decline of passenger traffic. The issue came to a head with the bankruptcy of the Penn Central in June 1970 when it filed to discontinue 34 passenger trains.

In October 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Rail Passenger Service Act, creating the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to assume operation of the railroad industry’s intercity passenger trains. Amtrak attempted to keep North Philadelphia Station going, but it has been an uphill fight. After a March 1976 fire, Amtrak undertook rehabilitation, removing two of the three dormer windows and bricking up other openings. In 1991, it constructed an alternative concrete and glass station on the north side of the tracks near the original cab entrance, ending the station’s traditional access from the south, In 1999, the original station was renovated for commercial space. That same year that it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The renovation returned the station to the approximate grade of Chandler’s original design. In 2026 North Philadelphia Station continues in operation serving riders on both the adjacent Chestnut Hill West line who board SEPTA trains headed to Trenton and Amtrak’s Keystone Service, the 195 mile route between New York and Harrisburg.

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