$1 Million Grant To Rehab Reading Railroad Freight House In Montco

LANSDALE, PA — A local nonprofit organization is the recipient of a million-dollar-plus state grant that will help with the restoration of a well-known historic landmark.

Discover Lansdale, a nonprofit organization that works on revitalizing the central Montgomery County borough of the same name, has been given a $1,017,868 grant from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to help rehabilitate the historic Reading Railroad Freight House.

The funding award was announced by the office of State Rep. Steve Malagari, a Montgomery County Democrat.

The money will help Discover Lansdale make various renovations and repairs to the historic building, including upgrades to the shipping office area, and the installation of showcases for rotating exhibits.

"Lansdale's history is deeply tied to the rail line that runs through it," Malagari said in a statement. "Restoring the Freight House is more than just historic preservation, it is about protecting and honoring what makes this town unique."

Discover Lansdale has worked "tirelessly to save this distinctive building from ruins and its volunteers have devoted countless hours of labor to its restoration," Malagari stated.

The legislator said the building's rehabilitation would be a benefit to the entire Lansdale community, which would be expected to reap the economic, social, and educational benefits that the restored building is expected to bring.

The parking lot of the building is also expected to be upgraded with utility service connections to the freight house, and stormwater management improvements, upgrades to the concrete curbing, and the addition of sidewalks, lighting, landscaping and ADA parking is also expected to be done with the grant dollars.

The freight house had earlier been purchased by Discover Lansdale after the nonprofit saw a need to save and preserve what it calls a vital piece of Lansdale's heritage.

The 2016 purchase of the building, which is located at the intersection of South Broad and Vine streets, was part of a multi-stage agreement between the prior owners and the Lansdale Parking Authority, according to the borough.

Discover Lansdale ended up self-funding the purchase of the freight house to the tune of $60,000 and signed a 99-year lease with the parking authority for the land on which the building is located, the borough stated.

Mary Fuller, of Discover Lansdale, previously issued a statement saying that the organization was thrilled to help preserve a piece of Lansdale's history.

"Just as the railroad began our town's development as a center of commerce, the freight station played a key role as the departure point for Lansdale-made goods and products that were shipped around the world," she said in her previous statement.

The train station was built back in 1903 and for years served as a shipping terminal for major industries that were based in Lansdale.

Dick Shearer, a local historian in Lansdale, had stated that history buffs in the community worked for a long time to bring attention to, and seek the preservation of, the freight house.

"Over the years the town gained a reputation — justified or not — of tearing down historic buildings then regretting it later," Shearer said in a statement around the time the building was saved. "This is a great start at reversing that trend."

When the Landsdale train station was built back in 1903, historians say it was considered to be the grandest one between Philadelphia and Bethlehem, Pa. that were served by the Philadelphia and the Reading Railroad.

"It generated a sense of community pride among the townspeople," historian Shearer wrote in a piece posted online. "No longer would Lansdale have to play second-fiddle to nearby Colonial-era boroughs such as Norristown and Doylestown that predated it in age and influence. Lansdale found its own niche; the railroad was its baby."

Shearer wrote that the freight station eventually closed in the 1970s, after which it "stood silent and empty, waiting for its next chapter to begin."