Philly Name Game (Part II)
Sandor G
little bit of history about the Main Line included.
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Tracking the story of the Main Line trains. (Nov. 1987)
By Kristin E. Holmes
Special to The Inquirer
Before the term Main Line had anything to do with the affluent environs and
well-manicured lifestyle that many associate with the suburbs west of
Philadelphia, the term referred to a mode of transportation that chugged
east and west through Pennsylvania's rural landscape, between Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh.
The Main Line in 1857 meant the Main Line of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, said Theodore Xaras, professional artist and longtime railroad
buff. It was not until Pennsylvania Railroad officials decided after the
Civil War to develop the land to either side of the tracks west of
Philadelphia that the term began to refer to a cluster of elite addresses.
"The area along the Main Line was created to be an upper-class
area," said Xaras, 42, of Upper Darby. "But it wouldn't have been there if
it weren't for the railroad. The Main Line as a social strata and as a
railroad are completely tied together."
The section of the original Main Line of the Pennsylvania
Railroad that is today known as the Paoli Local will be the topic of a slide
lecture by Xaras at 7 p.m. Wednesday (1987) at the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust St., Philadelphia. Xaras will discuss the history
and development of the 20-mile commuter rail line
Xaras, chairman of the art department at Ursinus College, in
Collegeville, Montgomery County, said that he has always liked history and
nostalgia and that is the source of his interest in trains.
"I'm a romantic, I guess," said Xaras, sitting in his small
apartment surrounded by a truckload of railroad memorabilia. "I'm fascinated
by American history, and trains are just a specialty that I fell into. It's
like going through a time machine. When I ride the Paoli Local and see the
stations, it's great because they haven't changed all that much.
It's like a little museum."
The first railroad in Pennsylvania, between Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh, was constructed from 1832 to 1834 by the state in an effort to
compete for trade with New York, which had opened the Erie Canal. In the
early stages, a load of freight headed to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh would
travel an arduous system of railroads and canals.
"With the railroad, a trip that used to take two weeks now took
three days, so it was getting better, but it wasn't easy for them," Xaras
said. "Take a ride west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and you see the kind of
terrain they were up against."
The Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in 1846 and by 1858 had
lined the route with railroad tracks, eliminating the canal boats and the
necessity of lifting rail cars over the mountains. The first station that
the railroad built was in Overbrook, in 1858. It still stands today. "During
the Civil War, the railroad made a lot of money hauling equipment," Xaras
said. "When [the war] was over, the railroad officials took a look and saw
that the railroad was starting to fall apart, so they began to make rail
improvements, straightening curves, upgrading stations, making the line more
permanent."
The Pennsylvania Railroad began to gain a reputation as a
world-class railroad, and the company decided that the area surrounding the
tracks should reflect that new image.
"From about 1869 to the 1880s, the western area outside of
Philadelphia was transformed from a backwater rural nothing to a high-level
society place," Xaras said. "Philadelphia had become an industrial center
during the war and many of the big officials in different companies wanted
to have these huge palatial mansions in the country and commute to work. And
at that time 'the country' wasn't the Poconos - it was Bryn Mawr."
The railroad owned the property for a mile on either side of the
tracks and began to sell the land for the building of country estates. The
railroad even went so far as to adopt a strict building code governing the
kind of home that could be built on the property.
"They had the train stations designed like the Victorian houses,
the style of architecture that was coming into vogue then," Xaras said.
"Many of the stations were built by a prominent Philadelphia architecture
firm at the time, the Wilson Brothers Co."
Twelve of the 17 stations from Overbrook to Paoli are in their
original buildings or in structures built before 1918, Xaras said.
"The original Bryn Mawr train station built in 1869 is now the
location of the thrift shop of the Bryn Mawr Hospital," he said. The
railroad once jutted south but has since been smoothed out.
But before Bryn Mawr became Bryn Mawr, it was called
"Humphreysville," a name not quite befitting the new ritzy image of the
railroad. George B. Roberts, a vice president of the railroad, decided to
change that along with the names of the other stations on the line.
"He must have looked at the list of stops and said, 'Hey, what
is this Humphreysville, Elm, Athensville and Eagle?' That sounds like
Tobacco Road. So he took the names of some English and Scottish country
estates, and Humphreysville became Bryn Mawr, Elm became Narberth,
Athensville became Ardmore and Eagle became Stratford," said Xaras, trying
out his best Katharine Hepburn impersonation.
The last stop added to the line was Daylesford in 1890. In 1917
the Merion station was rebuilt. No more construction along the local
occurred until 1953, when the Paoli station was torn down.
As he recalled the history of the railroad, Xaras, a thin,
balding man in jeans, shirt and sneakers, sat in the small apartment that he
shares with his wife, Judy, and their cat. Rusty. He was dwarfed by the
sheer volume of railroad collectibles and memorabilia that crowds his home.
Train books, train models, train paintings, train calendars, train posters,
train station hats, and train lanterns are only a few of the
railroad-related items that Xaras has picked up at flea markets and antiques
shows.
Xaras' hobby has played an important part in the development of
his art, and his work is rife with renditions of railroad trains, conductors
and porters in paintings, on collector's plates and in illustrations.
I
"I read somewhere that the only thing that separates man from
animals is man's ability to recall his past" said Xaras. "I think traditions
are special. You get a sense of the past. ...
"With railroad history, you find out about the richness of the
city and its surrounding areas. I think that's kind of nice."
--
Sandor G
Graduate - Ohio State, March 02
www.roadfan.com