Original Document

THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD: ITS ORIGIN, CONSTRUCTION, CONDITION, AND CONNECTIONS.

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BY WILLIAM B. SIPES.
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PUBLISHED BY THE PASSENGER DEPARTMENT. PHILADELPHIA, 1875.

BRYN MAWR, nine miles [from Philadelphia]–This station might well be cited as a model of taste and beauty. Occupying a delightful position in the midst of a fertile and well watered country, the railroad company saw its advantages and determined to improve them. Beautiful and comfortable station houses were built, and these were followed by a superb hotel and other improvements. Naturally these conveniences attracted visitors and residents, and from a scattered hamlet the place is growing into the proportions of an elegant town. Villas and cottages are springing up with wonderful rapidity, and it is altogether within the range of probability that Bryn Mawr will, in a few years, be one of the largest, and certainly one of the most beautiful, suburbs of Philadelphia. The old Columbia Railroad, when purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, swept, with wonderful curves, around the low hills which characterize this portion of the state, and one of these bends carried it half a mile south of its present route here. Progress and experience alike demonstrated that these curves must be straightened. It was speedily and successfully accomplished, but in doing it the station of White Hall was abandoned and Bryn Mawr arose to take its place. Population, about 800.


Credit: William B. Sipes, The Pennsylvania Railroad: Its Origin, Construction, Condition, and Connections (Philadelohia: The Passenger Department, 1875).