Spring Garden station (Broad–Ridge Spur)

Spring Garden
Former site of the Broad Ridge Spur station 2017
Location	Spring Garden Street and Ridge Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′42″N 75°09′28″W / 39.9618°N 75.1579°W / 39.9618; -75.1579Coordinates: 39°57′42″N 75°09′28″W / 39.9618°N 75.1579°W / 39.9618; -75.1579
Owned by	SEPTA
Line(s)	Broad–Ridge Spur
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Disabled access	No
History
Opened	December 21, 1932
Closed	1991
Former services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station Chinatown toward 8th & Market Broad Street Line Ridge Spur Fairmount toward Fern Rock

Spring Garden was a station on SEPTA's Broad–Ridge Spur that is located at the three-way intersections of Spring Garden Street, 12th Street, and Ridge Avenue.

The station was opened on December 21, 1932 between Fairmount and Vine Street Station (now called Chinatown), and eventually abandoned in 1991 after several attempts to keep it open. When it first opened in 1932, the station was a very busy subway station filled with passengers each day; however, by the 1980s, the station became very run down. Ridership drastically dropped at the time and the neighboring area around Spring Garden Station became inundated with drug trafficking and other crime. To avoid any potential threats of criminal activity, SEPTA closed down the station and sealed off the entrances with galvanized metal, redirecting passengers to the nearby Spring Garden station at Broad Street, only two blocks west.

Today, the former station can only be seen from Broad–Ridge Spur trains passing by between Fairmount and Chinatown stations. The station is dimly lit by only four fluorescent bulbs, and is no longer accessible except in an emergency. Because the station is abandoned it is no longer policed, but this does not stop SEPTA Transit Police from responding to crime at the station if seen by SEPTA employees while on the train. As the train passes by, every wall seen is completely covered in several coats of graffiti.

Station layout

References

• "Broad Street Subway". world.nycsubway.org. Retrieved February 20, 2007.
• Lake, Matt (2005). Weird Pennsylvania. Weird U.S. series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co. pp. 255–256. ISBN 1-4027-3279-1.