Quite a few times in my youth I had driven past this place, like so many others - too busy to stop and take a good look at this awesome landmark from Quakertown's past. "Must be a fire station or something... maybe a bowling alley?"

This, folks, is terminal and trolley car barn of the Quakertown-Richlandtown Traction Co. , built in 1896. The building housed the region’s first electric trolleys, which ran from Main and Broad Streets to nearby Richlandtown. With a connection to the Lehigh Valley Transit Co., residents of Quakertown could travel by trolley either north to Allentown or even south, all the way to Norristown and Philadelphia! Though the route was slightly redundant with the Reading Company's train station just to the right (out of sight), the fare was less and there were many more stops and branches to get to where one needed to go.

The trolley service ended in 1929 and the building was converted to a movie house called The Broad, complete with a piano player who performed during silent films. Over the years, the building housed a live theater, a laundry mat and a general store. As Quakertown’s largest hall, it was also used for graduations. It was even home to a bowling alley in the 1950s. In the late 1980's, it became the Trolley Barn Antique Emporium.