Owned by SEPTA Tracks 2 Opened 21 December 1932 | Platforms 2 side platforms Closed 1991 Owner SEPTA | |
Location Spring Garden Street and Ridge Avenue
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Line(s) Broad Street Line Ridge Spur Similar Fairmount station, Chinatown station, AT&T Station, Fern Rock Transportation Center, 8th Street station | ||
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 1980s, the station became very run down. Ridership drastically dropped at the time and the neighboring area around Spring Garden Station became inundated with drug trafficking 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 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 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.