| 1980 – Conrail moved its crew dispatch offices from the station and relocated them to the former QA office across the street. The station was abandoned and purchased by the borough of Tamaqua for $23,500. The borough hoped to utilize the station and its property as part of a downtown renewal project on West Broad Street.
The Tamaqua Railroad Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1981 – The vacant station was set on fire by an unknown arsonist in an attempt to destroy the structure. One room was totally destroyed and heavy damage inflicted on other areas of the building. Soon after the fire, the borough moved to demolish the building.
The Tamaqua Historical Society stepped in and asked the borough for permission to stabilize the building, clean up its appearance, and seek ways to save the building from the wrecking ball. The Society spent the next four years cleaning up, boarding up, stabilizing, and beautifying the building in order to buy time for a long-range preservation plan to be developed. |
