Spring Garden (SEPTA Broad–Ridge Spur station)

Spring Garden
SEPTA rapid transit station
Location	Spring Garden Street and Ridge Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′42″N 75°09′28″W / 39.9618°N 75.1579°W / 39.9618; -75.1579Coordinates: 39°57′42″N 75°09′28″W / 39.9618°N 75.1579°W / 39.9618; -75.1579
Owned by	SEPTA
Line(s)	Broad Street Line Ridge Spur
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
History
Opened	December 21, 1932
Closed	1991
Services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station Chinatown toward 8th Street Broad Street Line Ridge Spur Fairmount toward Fern Rock

Spring Garden is a station on SEPTA's Broad–Ridge Spur, located at Spring Garden Street and Ridge Avenue. The station was opened on December 21, 1932 between Fairmount and Chinatown stations, and eventually closed in 1991. When it first opened, the station was a busy commuter station filled with passengers each day, however, by the 1980s, the station became very run down. Ridership drastically dropped at the time, and the neighboring area around Spring Garden Street became inundated with drug traffic and other crime. To avoid any potential threats of criminal activity, SEPTA closed down the station and sealed off the entrances with galvanized metal, redirecting passengers to the Spring Garden station at Broad Street, only two blocks west.

Today, the former Spring Garden station can only be seen from Broad–Ridge Spur trains traveling between Fairmount and Chinatown stations. The station is dimly lit by only four fluorescent bulbs, and is no longer accessible. Because the station is abandoned and is no longer policed, every wall is completely covered in several coats of graffiti.

Station layout

References

• "Broad Street Subway". world.nycsubway.org. Retrieved 2007-02-20. 
• Lake, Matt (2005). Weird Pennsylvania. Weird U.S. series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co. pp. 255–256. ISBN 1-4027-3279-1.