Frankford & Southwark Philadelphia City Passenger Railway Co. v. City of Philadelphia

Citations

• 175 Pa. 120
• 34 A. 577
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 1219

Syllabus

<p>Street railways — Adverse possession — Eminent domain — Right of way by public — Park.</p> <p>A street railway company purchased a lot of land in 1857, upon a portion of which it laid its tracks. The public were permitted to walk and drive over a portion of the land along the track. The company maintained continuous possession of the land until 1891, when upon the opening of a certain street it ceased to use the land for railway purposes, but thereupon immediately fenced and boarded it in. During all these years the eompany used the land for the purpose of storing rails and other articles upon it, and never ceased to assert its right to use and occupy the lot for its own purposes. In 1892, the city condemned the land for the purpose of a public park. Held, that there was no such loss of ownership of the land by the railway company as to forfeit its right to damages when the land was taken by the city. Root v. Commonwealth, 98 Pa. 170, and Com. v. Pliila. & Read. R. R. Co., 135 Pa. 256, followed.</p>