P.B. & W. Station, Georgetown Delaware
View from the South Side After 1912
HGA went to settlement on September 17, 1996 on the old train station. According to record search, the building was built on or just prior to 1868 (when the railroad began service to Georgetown). In 1885, the train station appeared on a map of the town drawn by an unknown artist. According to these pictorial records, the station was a single story building with a relatively steep pitch. The second story with gables and dormers appeared sometime around 1912, giving the upper part of the structure nearly the same usable space as the lower structure, a likely residence for the station master and other railway employees.
When HGA purchased the station, it carried a low pitched roof line with no livable second story space. We could find no one who could recall any knowledge of when the second floor disappeared, but it seemed likely and reasonable that the building suffered either storm or fire damage and was rebuilt with a lower roof line.
Since settlement, HGA has learned from Ed Petitt, son of the former Asst. Station Master, that the second story was removed sometime around 1940. According to Mr. Pettit, a new low pitched roof was built inside the structure and upon its completion, the second story was removed. Insomuch as this second story only remained on the structure about thirty years, it does give credibility to the yet unconfirmed reports of roof damage coming as a result of a hurricane.
In the 1970's, the station's appearance was once again altered when a three inch veneer of fieldstone was applied to the building's exterior. This fieldstone covered the red brick used in the original construction, but has now been covered with 135 year old brick veneer pavers salvaged from the loading docks. Everything possible was done during the restoration to restore the structure to its former (nineteenth and early twentieth century) condition and appearance.
In order to qualify for the Transportation Grant, most of the interior demolition was done by volunteers and fortunately, they were able to salvage and retain nearly all the original materials. Several thousand board feet of the old 1865 lumber was salvaged, the best of which was used in the restoration. Twenty two thousand original paver bricks were used to veneer the building's exterior and loading docks. Enough old floor joists, many of which are 135 years old, were salvaged to restore the second story. Several thousand old 1865 sidewall bricks were retained and remain in the corners and the area between the windows and doors, two original cashier windows, one exterior door, lanterns, calendars and other railroad odds and ends were located and saved.
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