The St James Station was built on the south side of Lappans Road along the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in 1881. In 1959, the station house was dismantled and reconstructed on a lot on the north side of Lappans Road where it still stands today. Photo courtesy of Kilduffs.net, Pictures from Old Maryland.
In April 1881, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad connected its northern and southern track sections, completing the line from Hagerstown to Waynesboro, Virginia. Six miles south of Hagerstown, SVRR erected a train station along the tracks on the southeast side of the road. The Herald and Torch Light newspaper of June 16, 1880, reported that "Mr. J. C. Holmes is erecting a depot building at St. James College for the Shenandoah Valley Railroad." One month later, the railroad connected their telegraph lines from Shepherdstown to Hagerstown.
In 1881, there were no houses, stores, or schools at the crossing, only a railroad station along the road surrounded by farmland. The station's sole purpose was to provide comfortable access to the nearby College of St. James.
Rand Mcnally And Company, and Tennessee Virginia. The Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia Air Line; the Shenandoah Valley R.R.; Norfolk & Western R.R.; East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia R.R. its leased lines, and their connections. Chicago, 1882. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/98688846/.
The first to see potential for the new railway stop was local farmer John F. Rowland. Shortly after the railroad's completion, Rowland had his neighbor, local carpenter Frisby Price, build a fine two-story clapboard house, outbuildings, and a large storeroom on the north side of the road across from the station.
Shortly afterward, Henry A. Poffenberger and his son-in-law, Callo Fahrney, had Frisby Price build a large warehouse property and residence on the south side of the road behind the railroad station.
Rowland envisioned a new town at the railstop and had the fields beside and behind his mercantile surveyed into lots complete with a main street and alleys. Eleven of the lots sold immediately: two to John H. Rowland and one to Scott McLlroy, Jacob Knode, Claget Gibbs, Moses French, George Pierce, Jerome Diggs, and Scott Koontz. Soon afterward, Abraham Groff hired George W. Miller of Keedysville to build him a house and a shoemaker shop north of the station. John Rowland called his town "Rowlandsville."
Postal service at the village began in June of 1889 when John F. Rowland (1827-1889) applied to the United States Postal Service for a license to open a post office at his village. On his application, he first wrote the town name as "Rowland" but scratched it out and wrote "Lydia," after his wife Lydia A. Stiffler Rowland (1826-1911). And that's why, to this day, the name Lydia appears below the name St. James on the road signs as you enter the village.
Hagerstown Mail, Hagerstown, MD August 26, 1881
John Rowlands's 1889 application to the US government for a Post Office at Lydia.
Goldie Bloom's 1946 application, changing the name from Lydia to St. James. ,
John Rowland died in late 1889, and the advertisement of his property in 1890 noted a two-story frame dwelling "in which an excellent business was conducted and where the post office is now." Lydia Rowland died in 1911, and her obituary confirmed that the village was named after her.
Henry Poffenberger and Callo Farhney's store and grain mill prospered at Lydia. When Poffenberger's son Harvey took over the business, he also became the postmaster. In 1924, Harvey Poffenberger's son-in-law and daughter, Myron and Golda Poffenberger Bloom, took over the management, eventually purchasing the store and warehouse in March of 1931 from Sallie Poffenberger, widow of Harvey Poffenberger.
From 1924 until he died in 1960, Myron and Golda Bloom's store at St. James was a charming, nostalgia-filled, old-fashioned country store. Along with all the essentials, one could buy penny candy, cheese, leather harness, Red wing shoes, coal, oil lamps, and flyswatters. Connoisseurs of antiques, the Blooms changed little in the store's appearance, preferring the pot-belly stove, rocking chairs, and a hodge-podge of well-worn shelves. A born-story teller, Bloom spent his latter years entertaining anyone who would listen. Today, the store at St. James is still a charming mixture of old and new, and the old post-office boxes still stand in the front corner of the store, operating as Shawleys Olde Country Store.
In 1890, the Norfolk & Western Railroad assumed control of the defunct Shenandoah Valley Railroad, and by 1958, the trains no longer stopped at St. James. But Myron Bloom, a collector of all things old, had an affection for the railroad station. Not only did he purchase the St. James station, but he also purchased the rail station in Sharpsburg. We can thank him for both structures still standing today.
Instead of demolishing the quaint, almost 80-year-old building in 1959, he disassembled it and reassembled it on a lot across the street, making a home for one of his long-time employees. It still stands today as a private residence.
Today, the railroad station at St. James stands across the street from its original location. It was moved there in 1959 by local merchant Myron Bloom.
The first schoolhouse near St. James Station was the Fountain Rock School. Built in 1872, by 1893, the side wall had cracked, and bricks were falling from the abutment. Repairs were made, and the Fountain Rock School serviced the community until 1931 when it was sold to George Rowland, who renovated it into a private residence. The Fountain Rock School in use today was built in 1971.
17407 Lappans Road was built in 1872 as a one-room brick Fountain Rock School used until 1931.
The village of Lydia continued to grow, and in 1885, Reverend John Duke McFaden came to Washington County to conduct revival meetings. After several meetings, locals banded together and officially founded a Brethren Church. A white church house was built between August and December 1886 and dedicated on Christmas Day 1886. As the church continued to grow, so did the congregation's needs. In October 1961, a ten-acre parcel with a two-story brick house was purchased. The plot of land was adjacent to the original church house and now comprises the present church property. The two-story brick house is the present parsonage. In June 1966, the educational building was built. The sanctuary was added to the educational building in 1971. The original stained glass windows from the white church are featured in the sanctuary today.
