Palmyra’s big news in 1834 was the Camden and Amboy Railroad’s construction of a train station at Broad Street and Cinnaminson Avenue that brought together individuals and businesses in an area of several large farms and very few people.
Then part of Chester Township, the borough along the Delaware River began as Texas, a small railroad junction. Entrepreneur Joseph Souder figured the railroad would transform the town, so he purchased land and mapped out streets and property lots. In 1849, he and other interested investors renamed the village Palmyra, after the ancient trading center in Syria.
The people came and the town grew quickly, along with others along the railroad, including Riverton, Cinnaminson, Riverside and Delanco.
By the 1960s, only freight trains used the tracks to carry goods to industries from Trenton to Camden, and on weekend nights, “the tracks” became a gathering place for teenagers. Eventually, even the trains stopped running, and the tracks just rusted. But in 1999, NJ Transit announced plans for the River Line to carry passengers from Bordentown to Camden. It opened in 2004, after the building of the new Palmyra train station platform and renovations along the entire route.