This photo is looking north, with main street on the left.
The station was located in what is now the empty lot across from the Watson Mart.
In 1854, 13 years before the borough of Watsontown was incorporated, the Sunbury & Erie Railroad had extended it's line through Milton and Watsontown. The railroad proposed building a depot and watering station "some distance north of the mouth of the Warrior Run". [near Fort Freeland]
David Watson & E.L Piper, son & son in law of Watsontown's founder John Watson, promptly gifted the railroad land for the depot, including a spring nearby, and they even threw in $600 in cash.
The railroad quickly abandoned their plan to build further north, and instead seized the deal, building in what would soon become the borough of Watsontown.
In 1857 the Sunbury & Erie Railroad Co. sold the section from Sunbury to Williamsport to the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, for one million dollars. It later became known as the Pennsylvania Railroad.
On the left is the Watsontown Table Furniture Works. Today, that is where the Watson Mart stands.
The railroad stations are on the right.
1886
"On June 22, 1886 the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railroad (W.B.&W RR) was formed. By Monday, December 13, 1886 the railroad opened for business with two round trips each day, except Sunday, from Watsontown to Jerseytown, and a third round trip in the late afternoon to Lethergo
The train station in Watsontown was built in 1886.
The mail stage was discontinued in Turbotville on December 13 1886, after the railroad began operating from Watsontown to Turbotville.
1887
1887 Sanborn Fire Map
Today, The Watson Mart Stands roughly where the Watsontown Table Furniture Works once stood
About 1910/1912
1889
In August of 1889, William Logan of Milton (Brother of Joe A Logan of the Miltonian) was killed while jumping onto a freight train at the Watsontown station.
Logan had taken the west bound freight train from Milton, and upon arriving in Watsontown he jumped off on the east side of the track. While the train he had rode on was still moving at a high rate of speed, he jumped on again, and it is supposed he intended to cross to the west side, when he was thrown against the train going in the other direction.
1901
1902
On January 7 1902, Mr Cromley, his son, and a team of horses were killed on the Pennsylvania Railroad at Watsontown. In 1904, Mrs Cromley was still involved in lawsuits for damages, with the Railroad company. That same day, the same train almost hit another sled in Milton - the horse and sled were thrown over the embankment and second tragedy was narrowly avoided.
Just a few minutes later, in Milton,
1903
October 6th, 1903
The Susquehanna, Bloomsburg & Berwick Railroad connecting Watsontown With Berwick, formerly opened to public travel
1920, looking south, with Memorial Park in the background
1904
An ember from a passing train burnt down the Watsontown Door and Sash company
August 1904
1905
August 1905
1906
Located across from what today is Watson Mart
1920
A postcard mailed in 1920, showing the Watsontown Passenger station
The trees to the left are Watsontown Memorial Park
1938
June 1938
The Ticket Station was robbed by 4 teenage boys
Two sets of brothers, Frank & Ambrose Smith, & George & Harry Wertz from Watsontown
1944
In December of 1944, Cyrus Zettlemoyer, age 42 was struck and killed by "a fast Pennsylvania Train at the crossing south of Watsontown railroad station". Zettlemoyer, an employed of Berwyl Hosiery Mill at Turbotville, was driving a company truck when the accident occurred.
"No details were available because he was unconscious when removed from the wreckage by trainman and others who worked for a half hour to extricate him from the machine."
Dr F.R. Adams of Watsontown administered medical treatment, and he was taken to Williamsport hospital. The accident occurred on a Thursday, and Zettlemoyer died from his injuries the following Tuesday, Jan 2 1945.
1955
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Before And After
1957
The Train station was still standing in 1979
Railroad Crossings In Watsontown
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At 8th street
At 8th Street
At 4th street
1978
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Find More Stories & History Of Watsontown Here:
And more local history, from surrounding areas, here:
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READ MORE
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" Up to about 1872 or 1873 the citizens did their banking business in Milton, the merchants taking turns in carrying the deposits of their fellow merchants to the neighboring Borough, usually walking the return trip rather than wait the entire day for the train."
"From a single employee, viz. J.P. Starr, to handle all of the freight and passenger business of the Railroad Company in 1866, and from a passenger accommodation of two trains daily, Watsontown today has sixteen passenger trains daily and employs twelve men at the passenger and freight station."
Watsontown Historically by Maj Fred Knight
After the establishment of trackage from Turbotville to Berwick, with onward connections to Wilkes-Barre, my great grandfather began shipping dressed hogs and cattle to accounts in the Wyoming Valley.
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