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 that is now abandoned and is located at the three way intersections of Spring Garden Street, 12th Streets & Ridge Avenue.

The station was opened on December 21, 1932 between Fairmount and Vine Street Station and now called (Chinatown) stations, and eventually abandoned in 1991 after several attempts to keep it open. When it first opened in 1932, the station was a very busy subway station filled with passengers each day, however, by the 1980's, the station became very run down. Ridership drastically dropped at the time and the neighboring area around Spring Garden Station became inundated with drug trafficing 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 nearby Spring Garden station at Broad Street, only two blocks west.

Today, the former Spring Garden Street station can only be seen from Broad–Ridge Spur trains passing by between Fairmount and Chinatown stations. The station is dimly lit by only four fluorescent bulbs, and is no longer accessible except in an emergency. Because the station is abandoned it is no longer policed, but however this does not stop the SEPTA's Transit Police Department from responding to crime at the station if seen by SEPTA Employees while on the train. As the train passes by every wall seen 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.