Open house will show off latest renovations, including interior rooms
A downtown destination in Lansdale is getting ready to open its doors to the public.
Residents are invited to attend a public unveiling of the town’s Freight House, now just days away from spotlighting nearly a decade of work.
“The Freight House open house, on April 18th from noon to four (p.m.) — come check out what the space can be,” said councilwoman Mary Fuller.
“As we speak, there is a big model train layout being set up in there,” she said.
Located on the east side of the intersection of Vine and Broad, the freight station was built in the early 1900s as the main import and export hub for local businesses, and opened in 1902 just before the nearby passenger station, and was used to process heavy goods from numerous local businesses until it fell into disrepair and closed in the 1970s.
In the late 1990s the Lansdale Historical Society started talks on buying the station and surrounding property, and in 2016 the town’s parking authority purchased the property, with borough nonprofit Discover Lansdale buying the building and hosting several public open houses and volunteer cleanup days since, to promote the idea of renovating the station into a museum or visitor center.
Minor fixes were done to the station exterior in 2021, and in summer 2022 borough staff announced that the parking authority had budgeted roughly $1.3 million for paving the lot surrounding the station, and adding a new driveway connection to the ‘Lansdale Luxor’ apartment building just south of the station. That lot was paved in 2023, and new “Lansdale Freight House” décor at the station was displayed by Discover volunteers during the town’s Founders Day festivities that August.
Discover and its volunteers launched a fundraising campaign at the end of 2024 to install electric, water and heat services, rebuild the floor, restore doors and windows, add an accessible restroom, recreate an original office space, repair stonework, and create an event venue out of the station’s shipping area, and a courtyard outdoors near the adjacent Liberty Bell Trail.
At that time, organizers said just over $1 million had been secured through grants from Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and the total price tag updated to $1.6 million. Since then, work continued through last summer on the renovations, as the station hosted fundraisers like the “Frachthaus Zer0.5K” held in October that offered previews of the renovations, and in February council OK’d a grant application seeking $250,000 from the county’s “Montco 2040” grant program for future work..
Those efforts are now nearly complete, Fuller announced during the April 1 council meeting: an open house on April 18, with local VIPs and Discover volunteers showing off the station from noon to 4 p.m.
“At 1, we’ll be doing the official ribbon cutting. Discover Lansdale is set and ready to begin opening this space to the public. We’re pretty excited about it,” Fuller said.
On that day, Discover will offer tours of the facility, showing off the spaces set to become a welcome center for visitors, and displays honoring the town’s industrial past. Model trains will be running, and visitors can enjoy music, refreshments, and visits from local VIPs, while contributing to future phases of renovations.
“Your continued support will be crucial as we finish the Freight House fit-out, with a front ramp, overhang and courtyard, a new roof and finished flooring and a second floor for the Welcome Center, all still on the drawing boards,” said Discover volunteer Bruce Schwartz.
And yes, Fuller said, that date does coincide with the International Spring Festival at North Penn High School. Visitors are welcome to stop by at both.
