Station project still on track in Shepherdstown

January 16, 2001

Station project still on track in Shepherdstown

By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The effort to convert an old train station in Shepherdstown into a center offering health services and space for community events is coming to fruition.

Organizers of the project are negotiating with a dentist who wants to move into the building, and classes to teach karate, fencing and other subjects already are being held in the building, said Rob Northrup, president of The Station at Shepherdstown.

Shepherd College has been holding some of its nursing classes there, and local caterer Sylvia Ellsworth has agreed to work as a booking agent to arrange chamber music events and similar activities at the station, Northrup said.

"I think it's going to be real exciting," Northrup said recently at the Shepherdstown Men's Club. Northrup spoke to about 80 people last week at a meeting of the club to update them on the progress of the project.

In 1990, a committee of concerned citizens led by Jack Snyder began work to save the station off East German Street. It had not served as a train station since 1956.

The group was successful in winning a $500,000 federal Housing and Urban Development grant to restore the building.

Much of the restoration work has been completed, although work on heating and air conditioning systems remains to be completed, Northrup said.

Dentist Paul Davis is negotiating with the station to locate his office in what used to be referred to as the "black waiting room" in the station, Northrup said. Davis also is interested in doing some renovation in an area that was once used as a freight room, Northrup said.

"If everything goes as expected, we hope to have that in action by May," Northrup said.

The goal of The Station at Shepherdstown is to primarily serve as a place to promote health, emphasizing education and prevention. In coming years, the organization hopes to partner with other organizations active in health.

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