“at the meeting of the Canal Commissioners held at Harrisburg, March 12, 1834, ‘Enoch Davis was unanimously appointed collector upon the Columbia railway at the Paoli’; further ordered that he shall be allowed fifty dollars per month as a full compensation for his services, and that as soon as weigh scales are completed at his office, he perform the duties of weigh master, and weigh all burden cars using said railway.

… David remained in the office until March, 1836, during which time the tolls and fines collected by him at Paoli amounted to $16,454.73; fines and treble tolls constitute quite an item in the above amount.

… After the sale of the State improvements to the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. by the State in 1855, Paoli was made the terminus for local trains, an engine house and turntable were built a little northwest of the station for the purpose of turning an entire train”[1]

Presumably, the Office was then used by the PRR for other functions.

Plan for Canal Collector’s Office, c. 1875, showing original track alignment. Courtesy of Ted Xaras

Photograph by Julius Sachse, 1888.
This was after the track had been moved to the north (back) of the building.

Canal Collector’s office, 1926 looking northwest; courtesy of Hagley Museum. By this time the Paoli Inn, on the opposite side of the North Valley Road, had burnt down (May 1899), demolished, and had been replaced by a bank building, which sat a little further south than the Inn.

Notes and References

1. History of the Church of the Good Samaritan, Paoli by Phoebe Prime, TEHS Quarterly, vol. 9, #3 (1957).