Wilkes Barre Leader, May 23, 1963
LV Passenger Station
Sold; Will Be Razed
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Karps Pay $40,000 For Property -No Decision
Yet On Definite Use
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The former Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger station on Market street has been purchased by the owner of a city men’s wear store, it was reported today.
The station and express building with some 1.71 acres of land has been sold by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company to Irving and Dorothy G. Karp, 16 Riverside Drive, city, for $40,000, according to a deed filed at the courthouse.
Karp, proprietor of Karp’s Army and Navy Store, 159 South street, city, acknowledged purchase of the nearly 80-year-old structure but said no definite decision has yet been made on what use is to be made of the property.
Will Raze Building
He indicated that the building would be razed eventually but not in the next few months. Karp said he had received numerous queries concerning the use of the property but a definite use for it has not yet been decided. Asked if an “in-town motel” would be erected on the site, he said, “all I can tell you is that there ware some people who have asked me about a motel up there.” He reported he had also received feelers from merchants in the vicinity concerning use of the site for parking and from others who indicated interest in purchasing parcels of the tract for erection of commercial buildings.
The store owner mentioned that one of the persons inquiring about the tract spoke in terms of a three-tier motel with parking underneath. Karp said that should the property be used for this purpose, he would have no interest himself in the motel but, would either sell or lease the site for such an enterprise. The Karp business has been located in the city for 60 years.
Dates Back To 1884
In the deed filed at the office of Recorder of Deeds Edward P. Zolnerowicz, State realty transfer tax on the property amounts to one per cent, or $400. Wilkes-Barre will also benefit in the amount of $400 from the one percent realty impost. Papers regarding the property transfer were filed by the law firm of Rosenn, Jenkins and Greenwald. The deed is dated January 23, 1963, and was filed with Recorder Zolnerowicz on May 21.
The railroad station was erected in 1884 and millions of passengers passed through it over the years until it was closed early in 1962. The closing followed discontinuance of passenger service when the last run was made in 1961 by “The Maple Leaf.” The m most famous of the “Valley’s” trains “The Black Diamond,” was discontinued the year before. The station also was a focal point of departures and arrivals of servicemen in World Wars I and II. When the staton was closed, LVRR offices were moved to the Pennsylvania Railroad freight house on East Northampton street.
(A post-card view of Lehigh Valley station in Wilkes Barre about 1910).
As it appeared shortly before demolition.
Station being demolished, December 29, 1965
