Skip to main content

Chester County Press

Oxford to explore possibilities for borough hall

03/19/2014 03:28PM ● By Acl

Oxford Borough officials might soon be looking at options to renovate borough hall.

By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

Oxford Borough Council president Ron Hershey said at the March 17 council meeting that he would like to see Oxford officials explore possibilities for the borough hall at 401 Market Street.

Hershey explained that the Anonymous Donor has donated $1.4 million over the years for the purpose of either renovating borough hall or finding a new home for the borough’s administrative offices. A Building Committee was established several years ago, but it hasn’t been active, Hershey said.

He would like to see that change.

“We’ve been sitting on that money for quite awhile,” Hershey said.

He suggested that the borough bring in a graphic artist to do some renderings of what borough hall might look like after the additions. 

The borough hall was at one time the Oxford Train Station and the building is in Oxford’s Historic District. Hershey said that there will be limitations as to what the borough can do with the existing building because of its historic character. Hershey said that he would like to see the Building Committee begin to explore the possibilities that can be considered before an engineer is brought in to determine how the building might be renovated and expanded.

Oxford resident Walter Saranetz, who serves on the town’s Historical Commission, has come across information about the borough hall during his research. He said that the last passenger train ran in Oxford in 1947, and the borough first leased the building from the railroad in the early 1960s. The borough subsequently purchased the building, most likely some time in the 1970s, and has called it home ever since.