Coraopolis train station project steams ahead with grant | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When residents of the Coraopolis area were asked to write about their memories of the town’s old train station, Marjorie Heinlein Jones, who grew up in Coraopolis, recalled her childhood fascination with what some might consider an odd fixture to intrigue a youngster the shiny brass spittoons at the station.

The memories surrounding the station which was built in 1895 and at one time linked Coraopolis’ thriving business district to Pittsburgh, Beaver County and cities around the country were collected by Stacey Christie and displayed at a station open house in July.

The Coraopolis Community Development Foundation, which bought the Mill Street station in 2005, is restoring the building, and that effort recently got a major boost with a $290,000 grant from the Allegheny Foundation.

While the station restoration is an effort to preserve a part of the town’s heritage, the community development foundation also hopes the $1.2 million project will help spur an economic resurgence for Coraopolis.

The station is adjacent to where the Montour Trail and the Ohio River Greenway Trail will join, and planners believe a cafe at the restored station would provide a rest stop for walkers and bicyclists using the trails.