Collegeville Station

See also: Mail Route

The station is not in the town of Collegeville but in that of St. Wendel. Up to November, 1879, our nearest railroad station was St. Joseph, 4 miles distant. One of the old Brothers, Bro. Taddy, made that distance every day once with a slow team of horses and a clumsy wagon which carried freight and passengers. It was not pleasant to make the trip in bad weather--say in winter. But in 1879, the year in which our church was begun, Abbot Alexius Edelbrock negotiated with Mr. J. J. Hill of St. Paul for the erection of a "depot” or station at what is now Collegeville. There was no settlement, nor even a building of any description there before July, 1879. When it became a settled fact that there was to be a station and that it was to be also a post-office, both to be known as Collegeville, we built a large frame house on the north side of the track to serve as a residence and grocery store for the station agent, Mr. Henry Broker, brother in law to the Abbot and ex-postmaster of Richmond and New Munich. (His name was really Bröker). Broker conducted a very simple store, and it was not a very attractive concern. I doubt if it ever paid, and I know that it was the occasion of many petty annoyances. About 1898 Andrew Kugler, H. Broker’s son in law, succeeded him as station agent and post master and held the place till 1915. The Collegeville road was built about 1879 also. An older road of which some traces remain was abandoned. Collegeville was made a Money Order office in 1892.

(Written Nov. 14, 1916---by Rev. Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B.)

(typed December 11, 1939,--Hubert)

Located in ARC folder:
St. John’s University: History – 1857-1907 – Index / Alexius Hoffmann