Cambridge Springs station

Cambridge Springs
The former Cambridge Springs depot, seen in 1916.
General information
Location	302 Venango Avenue (US 6 / US 19), Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
Coordinates	41°48′12″N 80°03′37″W / 41.8033°N 80.0602°W / 41.8033; -80.0602
Line(s)	Main Line (Meadville Division)
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway
Other information
Station code	5121[1]
History
Opened	October 27, 1862 (Atlantic and Great Western Railway)[2] October 19, 1900 (Meadville and Cambridge Springs Street Railway)
Closed	September 28, 1928 (Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway) August 1, 1965 (Erie-Lackawanna Railroad)[3]
Former services
Preceding station Erie Railroad Following station Venango toward Chicago Main Line Miller's toward Jersey City

Cambridge Springs (formerly Cambridge) was a railroad station for the Erie Railroad in Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. Cambridge Springs station was on the Main Line's Meadville Division, which was the section of the line between Salamanca, New York, and Meadville, Pennsylvania. The station was located 501.2 miles (806.6 km) from Manhattan and the Barclay Street Ferry, which connected to Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, and 480.8 miles (773.8 km) from Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey.^[3] For nearly three decades, the station had connections to the Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway, which was a trolley line that connected the city of Erie and Meadville. Modern Erie Railroad station signage denoted the station as "Home of Alliance College," a local private university that closed in 1987.

Service to Cambridge Springs began in October 1862, with completion of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway to Meadville, a 6 ft (1,829 mm) railway that originally went from Salamanca to Corry, Pennsylvania, until work was suspended in 1861 due to financial issues. The Atlantic and Great Western would later be completed in June 1864, with connection to the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad in Dayton, Ohio. Ownership of the line was transferred in 1880 to the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad. Meanwhile, a trolley line was completed through Cambridge Springs from Meadville, which was completed on October 19, 1900. The trolley station was constructed in 1903. The new Meadville and Cambridge Springs Street Railway was extended to Linesville, Pennsylvania, where it connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad. In November 1912, the railway was merged with the nearby Erie Traction Line, becoming the new Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway.

Located near some mineral springs, Cambridge Springs became a popular place for people to visit. On October 26, 1912, President of the United States William Howard Taft visited Cambridge Springs to visit the mineral springs, coming from nearby Edinboro, Pennsylvania.^[4] A second benefit of being located on the main line, was that Cambridge Springs was halfway between New York City and Chicago. In 1904, the municipality was host to the Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress, an international chess tournament that was the first held in the United States since the turn of the 20th century. Sponsored by the Erie Railroad, the tournament was held from April 25–May 19. In October 1924, the halfway point was dedicated by Erie Railroad officials, with 175 members of the railroad attending a nearby convention and being hosted in nearby hotels.

However, the decline of railway service in Cambridge Springs began in 1912, with a series of accidents on the Northwestern Pennsylvania, which caused a big-money lawsuit. In December 1919, the company was forcibly sold to the Erie Trust Company, and in 1922, the company merged with the People's Incandescent Light Company, creating a monopolization of services in Erie and Crawford counties. After a bus line was established in 1925, the service on the trolley line continued to decline, and on September 1, 1928, services on the line through Cambridge Springs was terminated. Service on the Erie Railroad continued, even after it merged with the Lackawanna Railroad. Prior to the merger, the station saw only three stops daily, and by 1965, the last trains servicing Cambridge Springs, the Pacific Express and the Atlantic Express, marking the last passenger service to Cambridge Springs, were canceled.

The depot for the Erie Railroad, located at 302 Venango Avenue was demolished in 1964 after a deal was reached with the borough of Cambridge Springs and replaced with the Cambridge Springs Volunteer Firefighter Department building. The former Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway station, modeled to look similar to the Erie Railroad depot, continues to stand on Venango Avenue, along with the monument marking the halfway point, not far from the old depot site.^[5]