The Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission
The Olde Stone House Historic Village
Blackwood Railroad Station
The Blackwood Railroad Station was built in 1891 in the town of Blackwood in Gloucester Township, and was never part of Washington Twp. However, this building, which stood on the corner of Church St in Blackwood and the railroad, was the terminal from which our local Grenloch Line was built. Trains ran from Blackwood to Grenloch Terrace at the foot of the S hill, where the Blackwood bike path is at present.
Grenloch’s rail tracks and station were added in the late 1890s when Frank Bateman, then managing the Iron Age Implement Works, bought what he called his “funny farm”, a strip of land 7miles long by 60’ wide from the Reading Railroad. The railroad carried visitors from Camden and Philadelphia to the Grenloch Lake Park amusement park and freighted Iron Age Implements’ goods back to Camden City, as well as product from the gravel pit in the area.
The station was put up for sale by the Reading Railroad Company. The Blackwood station was brought to the former farm of Charles Quay in August of 1975 by the Historical Society. The Historic Society paid $1,000.00 for the building and then had it moved to the current location when the village was formed. Artifacts you see displayed are either from the Bateman Works or from the Grenloch Station. (Grenloch station is pictured on the wall of the station – it was razed in 2012).
If travelers wanted to go to Philadelphia they took the train to Camden and then got on a ferry boat and sailed across the Delaware· River to a dock in Philadelphia. The Ben Franklin bridge into Philadelphia wasn’t built until 1926 and at that time was known as the Delaware River Bridge. Train trips also ran to Atlantic City or Cape May during the summer.
The door in the back goes into the office where railroad employees kept their records and printed timetables for the trains. The trap door in the floor is original though we don’t know what it led to originally. The Station is painted in its original colors to match all the other Reading Railroad Stations.





Circa 1920

Circa 1932

Circa approx. 1976
Here is a photo of the station shortly after Mr. Quay purchased, moved it to his farm, and painted it cream.

Circa 2006
