The Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center & Operating Train are both running at full steam ahead!!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TRAIN VIDEO!
Friendly staff are happy to greet you as you step into Rehoboth Beach's original railroad station! While you look around the historic building, you can find: area maps, directions, coupons, Visitors Guide, Dining Guide, brochures, menus, real estate catalogs, retail, accommodations and fun stuff to do.
The Visitors Center is located at 501 Rehoboth Avenue in Downtown Rehoboth Beach. It is open year round Monday through Friday from 10AM-3PM and Saturday & Sunday from 10AM-2PM. For more information, call 302-227-2233.
While you are in the railroad station, LOOK UP at the rolling train that runs throughout all the rooms of the Visitors Center!
HISTORY OF THE REHOBOTH BEACH RAILROAD STATION
The restoration of the Rehoboth Railroad Station now located at Lighthouse Island Park in Rehoboth Beach was accomplished under the auspices of the Rehoboth Railroad Station Preservation Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1985. This Society, whose leadership was drawn from members of the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association and the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, worked diligently to reclaim an important part of the community’s past. he restoration of the Rehoboth Railroad Station now located at Lighthouse Island Park in Rehoboth Beach was accomplished under the auspices of the Rehoboth Railroad Station Preservation Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1985. This Society, whose leadership was drawn from members of the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association and the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, worked diligently to reclaim an important part of the community’s past.
Over and above its architectural charm, the Rehoboth Railroad Station symbolizes several qualities of the past which have special meaning to residents and visitors in Rehoboth Beach. The nostalgia it evokes in long-time residents is more than romantic. It is a recognition of the importance that this building has played in the growth and identity of their City. The curiosity aroused in tourists is also more than idle. It springs from a desire to understand the community of which they are an important part. This dual attraction is integral to the history of the Rehoboth Railroad Station which was built to serve the needs of both residents and visitors.his small and graceful building was erected in 1879 shortly after train service was extended to Rehoboth Beach. It was originally located in the ocean block of RehobothAvenue beside the tracks on the railroad right-of-way. The Station, longer than it is wide and sheltered on both sides by broad shed roofs, is a restrained example of the late Victorian style. The pleasing arc of the off-centered bay on its front facade, the gentle curves of the braces holding up its shed roofs, the interesting pattern of its 12 over 2 windows all show the importance of ornamentation to the design of public buildings at the turn-of-the-century. All of these design elements have been carefully recaptured during the Station’s recent renovation. A comparison of the refurbished building with photographs taken during the Station’s earlier incarnation show how faithfully its original forms were followed.
The Rehoboth Station is, however, more than a showcase of the early architecture favored in our City. It also provides a window into our history and development. It was 1873 when a Methodist Camp Meeting Ground was established near the present location of the Railroad Station and groups of retreatants began to make annual visits to Rehoboth Beach.
At about the same time that the Methodists were holding their summer Camp Meetings, the railroads were stretching out toward Delaware’s Atlantic Coast. A plan to run tracks from Clarke’s Corner to Lewes near the Breakwater had been conceived by the Junction and Breakwater Railroad in 1856, but its execution was delayed by the Civil War. When that conflict ended, the proposal was resurrected and brought to completion in 1869. In 1878, the rails were extended to Rehoboth Beach and the Station was built. Now travel to the shore was easier, faster and more comfortable than it had ever been before. Through a complex of lines connecting with steamboats crossing the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore and side-wheeler steamers crossing the Delaware Bay to Cape May, it was possible for visitors to travel to and from Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach began to experience an influx of summer vacationers. Hotels, boarding houses, shops and entertainment facilities began to appear. All of these businesses interacted with the Railroad Station in one way or another. Hotel and rooming house wagons and jitneys met the trains to transport travelers and their baggage to vacation accommodations; shopkeepers frequented the express and freight offices to order or pick up goods and supplies.
Residents were drawn to the Station for other purposes as well. They came to welcome friends and family for holiday visits, to board the trains themselves for business or pleasure trips, to get the news brought into town by the telegraph and newly delivered periodicals, to seek employment either with the railroad or with its attendant services, or simply to meet and talk with friends and neighbors. Long-time residents also remember that it was possible to have groceries delivered by rail and that the 9:15 evening movie was brought into town by the 9:00 p.m. train. So, for several decades the Station was a busy gathering spot as the haunting steam whistle of the locomotive announced the arrival or departure of the trains.
Train travel to and from Rehoboth Beach came to an end in the 1920s. Passenger service to the resort always had been highly seasonal and usually was suspended during the winter months. As a consequence, the business never proved to be lucrative. A number of companies provided train service to the area over the years. The Junction & Breakwater Railroad was operated for a time by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad and later merged with the Breakwater & Frankford and the Worcester Railroad to become the Delaware, Maryland & Virginia. Subsequently the tracks were controlled for a time by the Queen Anne’s Railroad and, finally, after a series of receiverships, foreclosures and mergers, by the Pennsylvania Railroad through two of its subsidiaries: the Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic.
In the fall of 1927, when Rehoboth Avenue was being paved, the Station was stripped of its shed roofs and moved off the right-of-way to the side of Rehoboth Avenue in line with adjoining buildings. There it continued to function as an express, freight and Western Union Office. In the late 1950s all service was ended and the Station was sold.
nder private ownership the Station continued to play a part in the City’s commercial development. During the 1930s and ‘40s the east end of the building housed offices for A. Felix duPont and, in the 1960s for the Chamber of Commerce. Most recently it was a home for small shops and fast food businesses. But it was always remembered and identified as “The Railroad Station.”
Then the State of Delaware established its Bicentennial Community Improvement Fund to encourage communities to preserve and restore important historical features of their past, many townspeople saw an opportunity to bring the Station back to its former beauty and function. Meetings were held to discuss the feasibility of using the building as a Visitors Center with the Chamber of Commerce in charge of its operation. The Rehoboth Railroad Station Preservation Society was formed to explore the probability of success. The response from individuals and the community as a whole was enthusiastic. Both the State and City administrations endorsed the plan and offered matching grants of support. The owner of the building, Mr. Dominick Pulieri, offered to donate the structure to the Society which then turned the deed over to the City. Funds were raised from both residents and vacationers and labor and supplies were recruited from local businesses, much of it donated outright.
In December 1987 the Station was moved to its present site. With the help of old photographs provided from family albums, restoration work could be done as accurately as possible.
The community project was completed in July 1988. The Chamber of Commerce moved in to establish its “new” headquarters, and the Visitors Center was opened to serve as a gateway to Rehoboth Beach once again.
Rails Along The Chesapeake, A History of Railroading on the Delmarva Peninsula 1827-1978, John C. Hayman; Marvadel Publishers
