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13th Street station (SEPTA)

SEPTA station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ4549546 ↗
Source-derived summary

13th Street station is a SEPTA rapid transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located under Market Street between 13th and Juniper streets in Center City. The station serves the SEPTA Metro L and is the eastern terminal station for all five routes of the T.

13th Street is located on the east side of City Hall and Penn Square and is connected to the Downtown Link concourse, a collection of underground passageways serving multiple stations on the L, B, PATCO Speedline, and Regional Rail lines. The station is also served by bus routes operated by SEPTA's City Transit Division and Suburban Division, as well as NJ Transit Bus routes.

The T platform was known as Juniper Street until 2011. The station was signed as 13th/Juniper Streets on maps at the time.

History

The station opened on August 3, 1908, as part of the first extension of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company's Market Street subway. The line had originally opened a year earlier between 69th Street and 15th Street stations.

The Downtown Link and associated underground corridors surrounding the station are expected to undergo a two-year renovation project in conjunction with renovations to the B 15th Street/City Hall station platforms.

L platforms

The L platforms are located one floor below ground level, connected to the Downtown Link concourse. The south concourse, accessible from the eastbound platform, features direct underground access to SEPTA's headquarters and transit museum, located at 1234 Market Street.

Editorial summary

“13th Street station (SEPTA)” enters the record as sEPTA station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what 13th, Street and station can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2011, 1908, 1234—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1908. Its strongest next move is a source search built around 13th, Street and station.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“13th Street station (SEPTA)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, 13th, Street and station provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4549546. Authority coordinates are 39.952, -75.161. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 1908 and 1234.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “13th Street station (SEPTA)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 13th Street station (SEPTA) primary sources, 13th Street station (SEPTA) archive and 13th research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “13th Street station (SEPTA)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “13th Street station (SEPTA)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.