Alexandria's first railroad station, a square frame depot on Shelton Avenue

A square frame depot stood on the north side of Shelton Avenue, between Hartslog Street and the old canal basin, when the Historic American Buildings Survey recorded it in August 1988 as HABS PA-5415. The survey describes a low pyramidal roof, a central door flanked by six-over-six wood sash on one side, oversized double wood doors on another, and wide eaves with modest cornice brackets as the whole of its ornament.

The survey dates the building to 1897, when the Pennsylvania Railroad extended a branch off its main line at Petersburg through Alexandria, and calls it the town's first railroad station. A 1991 inventory of the county's historic engineering and industrial sites reads the record differently, dating the little station to about 1900, the year it gives for construction of the Petersburg to Williamsburg branch through town, and adds that it first stood on the south side of the tracks, across Hartslog Street, with a window on its west side for selling tickets. Both agree it was moved about 1903, when a larger station was built.

The timing mattered. The railroad had bought this section of the canal in 1866 but did not close it until 1875, so for the last quarter of the century, the survey says, Alexandria was served by one railroad, and this was its first and short-lived depot. The overview report for the same project says full shipping through Alexandria began in 1900 and that passenger service ended in 1930.

Who replaced it is told three ways. The survey says William Woolverton convinced the railroad company to build a finer station, since demolished, to match the new Memorial Library nearby. The overview report calls Woolverton a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad, says he allegedly convinced the company, and puts the new station in 1904. The 1991 inventory gives the local tradition that both library donors, Woolverton and his cousin William Thompson, felt the town needed a better station and gave heavily toward the brick building that replaced this one.

After 1903 the old building ceased to be a depot and was relocated. The 1991 inventory credits William Baker, owner of the old Shelter Inn across the tracks, with salvaging the frame station and turning it into a garage. In 1988 the survey found it unused; in 1991 the inventory found it deteriorating and used for storage, garage doors on its south side, still standing while the brick station that replaced it had been torn down before 1964 to make way for the Alexandria Fire Hall.

This served as Alexandria's first railroad station from 1897 to 1903. The railroad purchased this section of the canal in 1866, but did not close it until 1875; thus, the transportation industry in Alexandria during the last quarter of the century was served by one railroad, and this was the first, albeit short-lived, local depot.Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, Pennsylvania Railroad Station, written data pages, HABS PA-5415 data pages, p. 2 (Significance) · character 906 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-09-05 · Library of Congress survey record, read in full

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