A small building on a busy borough street that is passed by hundreds of disinterested motorists and pedestrians each day holds uncounted secrets of Evans City’s transportation history, and now it looks like the historical society will be able to save it.

The former Harmony Line trolley depot has stood vigil for more than 100 years on a triangular spit of pavement surrounded by South Washington Street, Jefferson Street and Center Alley.

Rita Reifenstein, corresponding secretary on the Evans City Historical Society board of directors, said the building was erected in 1909 and served as the trolley depot until 1931, when the trolley line closed.

She said the historical society has been interested in buying the 1,088-square-foot building for several years, but could not afford the asking prices in the past.

“It has changed hands now, and things are changing,” Reifenstein said.

Now, historical society officials are trying to purchase the building, and the sale is looking like a reality.

“We’ve dreamed about it forever,” Reifenstein said. “It’s one of the few remaining historic buildings in town.”

She said the unique train station perched over the Connoquenessing Creek near the train tracks was torn down many years ago, even though it was the only train station in the United States that was suspended over water.

“The historical society is here to preserve history, and the history of the trolley was a big deal in the early 1900s,” Reifenstein said.

She said the trolley line was built because no mass transportation existed from Pittsburgh to the north.

Two men who grew up in Evans City and owned a department store in the borough, Russell Boggs and Henry Buhl, built the trolley line so merchandise and shoppers from Pittsburgh could easily access Evans City.

The small building was erected as a depot, where riders could buy a ticket, wait for the trolley, or get a cup of coffee and a couple cookies.

Farmers and merchants brought their wares to the depot’s freight room for shipment to buyers in Pittsburgh.

“You could get to Pittsburgh in a little over a half-hour,” Reifenstein said.

The Harmony Line — not to be confused with the former bus service known as the Harmony Short Line — eventually included dozens of stops and service to Butler, New Castle and Ellwood City.

Reifenstein said the Great Depression spelled disaster for the Harmony Line, and the building has changed hands many times since then.

If and when the sale closes, the historical society will work to clean and paint the structure inside and out.

“Our goal would be to take it back as much as we can to the (appearance of the) original trolley station, then use it as a trolley museum,” Reifenstein said.

She said the society has artifacts like an old icebox, lantern, milk cans and other items that could help make the depot more authentic.

Reifenstein is thrilled at the thought of the depot being owned by the historical society, even if it takes years to completely refurbish it.

“We are one of the few historical societies in Butler County that has not been able to preserve a historic building, so that has been a goal since we began in 1988,” she said.

She said every multigenerational Evans City resident has a story from family legend that involves the trolley.

Reifenstein, formerly Rita Marburger, said her grandfather, A.D. “Addie” Marburger, shipped milk to Pittsburgh from the family dairy that still exists on Mars-Evans City Road.

The trolley had an indirect effect on Addie’s decision to start up his own dairy, as his milk would often spoil in the cans he hefted onto the trolley in the summer for delivery to Pittsburgh.

So he decided to establish his own dairy, where his raw milk would be processed, bottled and delivered in refrigerated trucks.

Addie’s son, Martin Marburger, who was Reifenstein’s father, often was ill with asthma and hay fever as a youth, and frequently rode the trolley with his mother to the doctor in Butler, Reifenstein said.

After the appointment, the two would visit family in Butler and catch the last trolley back to Evans City.

“He said if all the seats were taken, he would sleep standing up,” Reifenstein said of her late father’s tales of the trolley.

Rita Schoeffel, a longtime Evans City resident and historical society member, was a small child in the years before the Harmony Line closed its doors.

“But my mother always said it was the best thing that ever came into existence and it went out of business too soon,” Schoeffel said.

She said her parents were farmers, and used the trolley to ship their produce to market in Pittsburgh.

Schoeffel agrees that the trolley building should be saved, and the historical society is just the entity to do it.

“So many things have been torn down and thrown away and forgotten about that were important to the growth of this area,” she said.

She agreed that nothing will happen quickly if the deal goes through and the historical society comes into ownership of the depot, as much work is needed to restore the small building.

“I’m so pleased that’s what we’ve done with the little bit of money we have,” Schoeffel said of the society. “At least we’ll have something tangible.”