In 1909, the Pittsburgh Railways Company opened a connection between its recently acquired Washington & Canonsburg division and its Charleroi interurban in Bethel. As part of the project, passenger waiting shelters of this type were constructed for each of the stops along the route. Richfol shelter was constructed to serve workers of the Standard Tin Plate Company in Canonsburg. The stop was named for W. H. Richards, plant superintendent, and Lewis Follet, company president. The site is now occupied by Pennsylvania Transformer Technology and is directly across Adams Avenue from Sarris Candies. Adjacent to the shelter was a 719-foot steel trestle that spanned a portion of the factory property, the Pennsylvania Railroad (the branch which passes the Museum) and Chartiers Creek.

After the line was abandoned in 1953, the shelter was moved by the Chartiers-Houston School District to a site along a township road about three miles from the museum. The building was badly deteriorated after serving as a school bus shelter for many years when local businessman John Tarr (of Tarr Concrete) arranged for acquisition and transportation of the shelter to the museum in March 1983. Restoration of the structure required replacement of a substantial part of its lower portion. The roof, however, and the distinctive station signs were preserved intact.