Reading's Churchville StationThis is the Reading Company's Churchville Station - built in 1892. Today, it serves as a private residence.. The original train station was constructed on Bristol and Knowles Road, one block to the south when the line opened in 1878. The relocation of the Churchville station north of Bristol Road changed the focus of development. At the beginning of this development, the area around Bristol Road retained the name Churchville, while the area around the new train station was called Churchville Station. As time passed, however, the two areas began to grow together.. In 1919 a farm owned by J. Cornell, north of the train station, was divided and developed. A new road named Cornell Avenue was laid out. Individual lots were sold, houses were erected, and large trees were planted along the road. Many of the houses were ready cut houses which were ordered from companies such as Sears and Roebuck, shipped by rail in pieces, and trucked to the house site and erected.
It's ironic that another more recent population boom and growth took place in the mid-1980s, just after the town lost it commuter service. Trains served the town until January 14, 1983 via SEPTA's Fox Chase-Newtown Line (Reading Railroad's former Newtown branch). The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase, were closed due to failing diesel train equipment that the then-a cash-strapped SEPTA commuter agency. This along with a failure to electrify the line, something long planned since the 1970's. Plans to resurrect service has had bipartisan support over the few decades, but it looks like the rails to trails lobbyist have won out as the roadbed will soon be removed and paved extending a trail that starts in Philadelphia even further north, and eventually all the way to Newtown.
