By Natalya Bucuy • The Current Contributing Writer
Jim Thorpe holds no shortage of beautiful historic buildings. From the solemn Old Jail to gracious mansions on the hill, the adventurous story of the town echoes through the architectural treasures. The iconic Mauch Chunk train station, situated in the heart of Jim Thorpe’s historical district, serves as a perfect centerpiece.
Also known as the Central Railroad of New Jersey Station, the Jersey Station, and Jim Thorpe Station, the Mauch Chunk Station was designed by the Wilson Brothers and Company of Philadelphia. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, which had headquarters in New York City and operated between 1839 and 1976, built the station in 1888 to replace a deteriorating depot that predated it.
The five-bay, one-and-a-half-story red brick building showcases elements of Queen Anne architectural style. A three-and-a-half-story cylindrical corner 70 ft. tower with a cylindrical roof crowns this Victorian masterpiece on its Northeast corner. The station features a series of semicircular door arches with multiple panels. A unique granite belt course rests upon granite plinth caps supported by engaged brick columns to finish the colonnade look.
The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway owns the train station and continues the tradition of diesel and steam engine excursions through the seasons. The building houses the Jim Thorpe Visitor Center and serves as a major landmark for Jim Thorpe’s rich cultural and event scene. The station entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The Jersey Station has played an important role in the Carbon County railroad history and remains the sole survivor of the railroad era. But it wasn’t the only one in Mauch Chunk. The Lehigh Valley Railroad began operations in Mauch Chunk in 1855. A temporary passenger depot received passengers in East Mauch Chunk, the town on the east side of Lehigh River which merged with Mauch Chunk on the west side to become Jim Thorpe in 1954.
In the 1860s, East Mauch Chunk expanded the depot into a more permanent train station building. A bridge connected the station to Mauch Chunk across the river. In 1902, a flood, that destroyed the bridge, caused the building’s abandonment. In 1903, a new station, located half a mile north of the original, took on the name and the operation of Mauch Chunk station on the Lehigh Valley rail line.
“The handsome new Lehigh Valley passenger station at Mauch Chunk is now open,’ announced The Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper on September 12, 1903. “On the first floor are a large waiting room, ticket office, baggage, express, and an immigrant room. On the second floor are the telegraph and trainmen’s rooms. […] The station is of brick, ornamented.”
The station remained in service until 1961. Once the train operations ceased, the building gave way to modern development. “Another part of the American pioneer era, the century-old Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger service, is expected to fade from the scene today in billowing clouds of smoke,” reported the Morning Call paper on Aug. 22, 1964. “A torch will be put to a large vacant passenger depot in Jim Thorpe to make way for a new, modern chain store. The depot had been lying dormant and was deteriorating rapidly since passenger trains of the Lehigh Valley Railroad made their final runs in February 1961.”
Natalya Bucuy is a journalist, short fiction, and non-fiction writer.
To view more of her work, visit her website, nowwehaveastory.com
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