Resurrecting PATCO's ghost station

The long-slumbering ghost station under Franklin Square, sealed in the era of Frank Rizzo and Rocky II, may be shaken awake, dusted off, and put back to work.

Silent dark hallways now blocked with plywood may echo with commuters' footsteps once again. Stairways that end in concrete slabs may be reopened to daylight. And the gaudy orange foyer that only a '70s decorator could love may get a 21st-century face-lift.

A proposed expansion of PATCO rail service could press the 71-year-old subterranean station back into service. And even if PATCO doesn't extend its lines, the changing face of Philadelphia above the ground could mean new life beneath the city, too.

The subway station, built in 1936, opened intermittently and last used in 1979, lies beneath newly refurbished Franklin Square at Sixth and Race Streets. There, a fountain, carousel and miniature golf course have brought new life to the once-seedy park that was one of William Penn's original five squares.

The station's platforms, with their green and white tile walls, can still be glimpsed dimly from passing trains, a tantalizing view in a time tunnel. But the interior that resembles its Broad Street Subway cousins, and the orange foyer with its old fare lists (35 cents to Philadelphia stations, 75 cents to Lindenwold), and the multilingual instructions on "How To Go PATCO" are hidden from view.

For now, that is.

Development near Franklin Square could change that. The arrival of the National Constitution Center, the boom in Northern Liberties, and the redevelopment of the old Metropolitan Hospital as MetroClub condominiums may create the critical mass necessary to bring bustle to an isolated pocket of the city.

"As Philadelphia's downtown continues to change, we need to reevaluate the station," said John J. Matheussen, president of PATCO, during a recent trip through the shuttered station, picking his way past puddles and construction debris.

Matheussen estimated it would take $5 million to $10 million and a couple of years to reopen the station. He said new entrances would be needed, as well as upgrades to accommodate handicapped customers and new fare technology.

"It's not something where we could just put a fresh coat of paint on and open the doors," he said.

PATCO is considering expansions in Philadelphia and New Jersey that could reopen Franklin Square Station and connect it to a streetcar line envisioned for Columbus Boulevard along the city's waterfront.

The various alternatives will be examined for 18 to 24 months before a decision is made, and if a Philadelphia expansion is approved, an additional five years would be required for construction, Matheussen said. The estimated cost of the Philadelphia extension is $700 million.

If the Franklin Square Station reopens, it would be at least the fifth time that the station has been activated. Always in the past, it has closed for a lack of riders.

The station opened in 1936 as the first Philadelphia stop on the Camden-Philadelphia rail line owned by the Delaware River Joint River Commission and operated by Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.

The station "closed right away, because nobody ever used it," said rail historian Bob Korach, a retired PATCO manager. "It opened again in World War II with the activity on the riverfront."

Closed again after the war, the station was reopened in 1953 when the line was extended from Eighth and Market to 15th and Locust Streets. It was soon closed again for lack of use. PATCO took over operation of the line in 1969.

In the Bicentennial year of 1976, when Philadelphia was a center of the national celebration, PATCO spent $1.1 million to renovate and reopen Franklin Square Station. It closed again in 1979.

"We never learn, we keep on trying," laughed Korach, 84. "We never got more than 100 passengers a day, no matter how we tried."

Korach remembers the station as a "beautiful" place with attractive murals - and no passengers.

"It was slowing up all the trains, so I said, 'I'm closing it.' "

The station now serves as an occasional storage site for construction crews working in the PATCO tunnel. The electricity is still on, to power the dim emergency lights that remain and to provide air-compressor power for rail switches.

Cleaning crews still come through and pick up debris, and Franklin Square Station gets biennial inspections.

"The stability is still good," said Bill Risko, a technical supervisor for PATCO. "Tile and concrete stay pretty stable."

A challenge for a future Franklin Square Station will be the same as in the past: how to get riders safely past the swirling street traffic that surrounds the square.

The old green exit signs, "To 7th Street" and "To Race Street," are now propped against subway walls, and the tunnel entrances they directed commuters to have been covered with plywood. A reopened station would have new outside openings to make it easier for people to use the subway, probably on the south side of Race Street.

"The entrances and exits would be reinvented," said Matheussen, standing atop the one exit that can still be opened, near the pedestrian-unfriendly northeast corner of Seventh and Race. "We'd put them in places that would be convenient to the commuting public."

The deciding factors in any decision to reopen Franklin Square Station, Matheussen said, will be the same ones that have bedeviled his predecessors over the last 70 years.

"How much will it cost and how many people will use it?"