Skip to content

Mount Union borough

The Freight Depot and the People Who Tried to Save It

View of Conrail Freight Station on Pennsylvania Avenue Looking Southwest. Located Between Depot and Washington Streets. - Town of Mount Union — View of Conrail Freight Station on Pennsylvania Avenue Looking Southwest. Located Between Depot and Washington Streets. - Town of Mount UnionLibrary of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record. No known copyright restrictions. pa2822.photos.038898p

The Pennsylvania Railroad put up a new freight depot in Mount Union in 1914, on Pennsylvania Avenue between Depot and Washington streets. It did not replace the old freight office so much as grow onto it. Sanborn insurance maps from 1919 still show part of the older building attached to the east side, and the line of that old roof could be read on the east wall long after the building itself came off.

When the federal survey team came through, the depot had sat unused for twenty years or more, Conrail had announced plans to tear it down, and a group of townspeople was trying to acquire it for a community library or a senior citizens center.

Sources

Shedd 1991, Pennsylvania Railroad: Mount Union Freight Depot
LOC caption pa2822.photos.038898p

Checked 2026-08-22 · Historic Mount Union collection

← All stories from Mount Union borough

Have something to add to this story, or a photograph of it? Send it here →

Photographs from Mount Union borough

A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes it

A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itShared by Myer Souders

Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division Street

Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetLibrary of Congress · pa2853.photos.038950p

$View of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount Union$ View of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2851.photos.038947p

“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.

“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.Welch, History of Mount Union, 1909 · stg08

$General Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing Shed$ General Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing ShedLibrary of Congress · pa2727.photos.134465p

View of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount Union

View of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2822.photos.038890p

All photographs →

More from Mount Union borough

Mount Union borough, A Ferry near Mount Union

Did you know? The crossing at Drake's Ferry, just above Mount Union, went from a ferry to a series of bridges. Samuel…

Mount Union borough, The darkest day: February 27, 1917

February 27, 1917, eight minutes past midnight. The eastbound Mercantile Express, Pennsylvania Railroad train No. 6 out…

Mount Union borough, A Question We Cannot Settle, and Maybe You Can

This stone house stands on West Water Street near Division. The federal survey records it as the John Sharrar House and…

Search all the stories →