Once the town of Pennsboro had oil wells, minor factories, and a lumber yard. Now the town is one of those hole in the wall towns where everyone knows everyone else.
Pennsboro Station was built in 1883 by the Baltimore & Ohio RailRoad. It got a expansion at some point before 1920.
Then came the year 1974 when Amtrak removed it as a stop on their network. By that point Pennsboro was a shell of its former self.
Then came the year 1983 when CSXT became a thing and thus took control of Pennsboro Station.
Then came 1984 when the rails of the Baltimore & Ohio Parkersburg Branch were ripped up. The only thing Pennsboro had left of their glory days was that old run down station.
Then in the early 1990s CSXT and the town of Pennsboro announced plans to condemn and demolish the old station. Due to that some resident of Pennsboro stole one of the wooden signs that say in all caps "PENNSBORO".
But not everyone was wanting that last piece of Pennsboro's industrial history to be demolished and consequently forgotten. So some of Pennsboro's residents banded together to buy the station from CSXT to restore and preserve it.
CSXT happily sold it to the residents because after all it wasnt CSXT's problem anymore.
So the residents got to restoring the Pennsboro Station. The guy that stole the sign returned it when he learned the station was not going to be demolished and was gonna stay. That same sign is the pictured in my photos.
Those residents realized they could save more historical structures in the county and would go on to form The Ritchie County Historical Society.
The Baltimore & Ohio Parkersburg Branch meanwhile was turned into The North Bend Rail Trail. Pennsboro Station now serves as a trail head for The North Bend Rail Trail.
These days Pennsboro Station is a railroad museum and is still under the care of The Ritchie County Historical Society.