President Street Station

Last updated
President Street Station
President Street Station - Baltimore 1856.jpg
An 1856 illustration of President Street Station in Baltimore
President Street Station
LocationPresident Street at Fleet Street (southeast corner)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates 39°17′2.4″N76°36′8.8″W / 39.284000°N 76.602444°W / 39.284000; -76.602444
Arealess than one acre
Built1849 (1849)
ArchitectParker, George A.; Isaac Ridgeway Trimble; Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
Architectural styleMid 19th Century Revival, Italianate, Greek Revival
Restored1996-1997
NRHP reference No. 92001229 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 10, 1992
Designated BCL2009

The President Street Station in Baltimore, Maryland, is a former train station and railroad terminal. Built in 1849 and opened in February 1850, the station saw some of the earliest bloodshed of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and was an important rail link during the conflict. It is the oldest surviving big-city railroad terminal in the United States.

Contents

In 1997, a preservation campaign and renovation project was completed, enabling the station to be operated as Baltimore Civil War Museum.

History

19th century

President Street Station and its eastern yards and shops of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad twenty years after construction, in 1869 President St Station Baltimore 1869a.jpg
President Street Station and its eastern yards and shops of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad twenty years after construction, in 1869

The Baltimore and Port Deposit Rail Road (B&PD), founded in 1832, completed a rail line from Baltimore to the western shore of the Susquehanna River in 1837. [2] : 32  [3] : 489  The railroad's Baltimore terminus was on the east side of the basin now known as the Inner Harbor at the southern end of President Street.

The B&PD exchanged freight cars with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the oldest railroad line in the country, established in 1827, which had built a track along Pratt Street, to the eastern basin harbor area from its original Mount Clare depot on the western side of the central business district. [2] : 31–2  [4] : 144 

The B&PD and its merger successor company, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B), transferred passengers to the B&O's first downtown depot at East Pratt and South Charles streets by a horse-drawn car on B&O's connecting track. (The Baltimore City Council prohibited the operation of locomotives on this track for reasons of frightening horses and fears of fires). [2] : 32  By 1838, the PW&B was carrying passengers from further northeast through Philadelphia to Baltimore, where they could transfer to the B&O and continue west to Ohio or by a new branch line further south to the national capital at Washington, D.C. [5]

The PW&B started building its own station at the southwestern corner of President Street with Canton Avenue with train yards, including a roundhouse, shops and freight warehouses of about six square city blocks, extending east along Canton Avenue, later renamed Fleet Street. [6] : 3  The Greek Revival-style station opened on February 18, 1850. [7] [8]

In addition to the brick head house with a distinctive arched roof, the original station also had a 208 feet (63 m) long barrel vaulted train shed over the tracks. [9] The PW&B added a similarly styled freight house, adjacent to the south of the passenger station, in 1852. [6] [10]

American Civil War

On February 23, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln, traveling in secret after abandoning his inauguration whistle stop train tour, transferred from the President Street Station to Camden Station in order to thwart the Baltimore Plot assassination attempt. [11] [12] [13] [14]

The station was involved in the Baltimore riot of 1861, as Massachusetts state militia troops bound for Washington, D.C. were being pulled in several connecting horse cars and later marching to the B&O Camden Station, ten blocks west and were attacked by an angry mob of Southern and Confederate sympathizers, with a large number of civilians and four soldiers killed and many people wounded in the ensuing melee. [9] [15] [16] On Friday, April 19, 1861, Baltimore Southern sympathizers attacked the passing 6th Massachusetts infantry regiment of the state militia and the "Washington Brigade" of Philadelphia from the Pennsylvania state militia. Both units were heading to Washington to reinforce defenses in response to the requests for troops in his proclamation declaring the existence of an insurrection by President Lincoln after the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor in South Carolina by newly organized Confederate States military forces a few days earlier. [17] [18]

In 1873, the newly organized Union Railroad built a new set of tracks in northeastern Baltimore, connecting the original PW&B main line with the Northern Central Railway (NCRY) going north to York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The new connection ran through the new Union Tunnel to NCRY's new Charles Street Station, north of Mount Royal Avenue. [3] : 488 

20th century

President Street Station during the Great Depression in 1936 President Street Station - Baltimore 1936.jpg
President Street Station during the Great Depression in 1936
In the 1970s, President Street Station was used as a trucking terminal; on the left, behind the head house, is the train shed that was added in 1913 to replace the original 1850 shed. President Street Station - Baltimore 1974.jpg
In the 1970s, President Street Station was used as a trucking terminal; on the left, behind the head house, is the train shed that was added in 1913 to replace the original 1850 shed.

This station, originally named "Union Station," was rebuilt twice and renamed "Pennsylvania Station" in 1928.

The station on North Charles Street and its successors, in the northern reaches of the city, largely replaced the earlier President Street Station on the southeast for passenger service. The latter continued to serve as a freight station into the 1940s World War II era but served some passenger trains until 1911. [19] The Pennsylvania Railroad, which acquired the PW&B in a merger in 1881, demolished the President Street's eastern train shed after heavy snow damage in 1913 and erected a new, shorter shed, built with wooden roof trusses. [6]

President Street Station was later used as a warehouse. The train shed was destroyed by fire, leaving only the present head house by 1970, when it was abandoned. [9] In 1979, the derelict building was acquired by the City of Baltimore, which planned to demolish it to clear the way for a proposed southern extension of the Jones Falls Expressway (Interstate 83) to connect in an interchange near the harbor with the east - west Interstate 95 which was never built. [9]

In 1989, the station's wooden arched roof collapsed in a snowstorm. [20]

Baltimore Civil War Museum

What was once the station's historic 1850 front passenger entrance is now the back of the Baltimore Civil War Museum. BaltimoreCivilWarMuseumBack.jpg
What was once the station's historic 1850 front passenger entrance is now the back of the Baltimore Civil War Museum.
An exhibit inside the Baltimore Civil War Museum BaltimoreCivilWarMuseumExhibit.jpg
An exhibit inside the Baltimore Civil War Museum

In the 1990s, a public-private partnership pushed by a supporters group, the Friends of the President Street Station (FofPSS), funded the reconstruction/restoration/renovation of the vacant station and historic site, which reopened in April 1997 as the "Baltimore Civil War Museum" with the assistance of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, located at the nearby Mount Clare Shops. [17] [9]

President Street Station, Inc. operated the museum until 2000, when the building lease was partnered with the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), located on their campus of buildings on West Monument Street, until 2006. The lease/partnership arrangement with the City and the FoPSS originally expired in 2017. [21]

The museum temporarily closed in 2007, due to budget constraints by the MdHS in connection with their nearby extension at the new Fells Point Maritime Museum on Thames Street, then re-opened on weekends only, operated by MdHS and subsequently by FofPSS volunteers. [15] [22] [23] The Civil War Museum was open on weekends in February 2010, in observance of Black History Month, although heavy snowfall forced closure of the museum on two weekends. [7]

In 2009, the City of Baltimore announced plans to designate the old depot as a landmark, which would restrict modifications to the building's exterior, and to request proposals for commercial development of the grounds. FofPSS opposes this, and called instead for the station's preservation and management as a museum by the National Park Service. [24] The director of Baltimore City's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, which will review proposals, said that any commercial use "must be subordinate to the history" and that a multi-use partnership would be ideal. [15]

In 2015, U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin introduced bill S. 521 The President Street Station Study Act, which would authorize the National Park Service to study the suitability and feasibility of absorbing the station. [25] It was incorporated into the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act and enacted in 2019. [26]

As of 2015, Friends of the Pennsylvania Street Station operates the museum. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore and Ohio Railroad</span> Rail system in the United States of America

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to do business with settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains. The railroad faced competition from several existing and proposed enterprises, including the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike, built in 1797, the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B&O Railroad Museum</span> United States historic place

The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum. It has been called one of the most significant collections of railroad treasures in the world and has the largest collection of 19th-century locomotives in the U.S. The museum is located in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's old Mount Clare Station and adjacent roundhouse, and retains 40 acres of the B&O's sprawling Mount Clare Shops site, which is where, in 1829, the B&O began America's first railroad and is the oldest railroad manufacturing complex in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilmington station (Delaware)</span> Passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington station, also known as the Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. It serves nine Amtrak train routes and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA Regional Rail commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as DART First State local buses and Greyhound Lines intercity buses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore and Potomac Railroad</span>

The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., from 1872 to 1902. Controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Northeastern States, and competed with the older Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad</span> Railway company, later part of the Pennsylvania Railroad

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881.

The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Maryland-Delaware state line, where it connected with the B&O's Philadelphia Branch to reach Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B). The cost of building the new route, especially the Howard Street Tunnel on the connecting Baltimore Belt Line, led to the B&O's first bankruptcy. Today, the line is used by CSX Transportation for freight trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospect Park station (SEPTA)</span>

Prospect Park station is a station along the SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line and Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Amtrak does not stop here; only SEPTA serves this station. The station, located at Lincoln and Maryland Avenues in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania, includes a 44-space parking lot. Like the nearby Norwood Station, Prospect Park Station is located right next to the town's library, in this case the Prospect Park Public Library. It is also located near the Borough Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Central Railway</span> Railway connecting Baltimore MD and Sunbury PA, US

The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the rival Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CSX Susquehanna River Bridge</span> Bridge in Maryland and Perryville, Maryland

The CSX Susquehanna River Bridge is a railroad bridge that carries CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision across the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland, via Garrett Island. It was built in 1907-10 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on the same alignment as an 1886 B&O bridge. Like its predecessor, it was the longest continuous bridge on the B&O system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Viaduct</span> Railroad bridge in Maryland, US

The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley between Relay, Maryland and Elkridge, Maryland, USA. It was commissioned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O); built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip E. Thomas, the company's first president. Some claim it to be the world's oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge. However, the Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened in 1830, and finally completed in 1833.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore Belt Line</span> Baltimore USA railroad line

The Baltimore Belt Line was constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in the early 1890s to connect the railroad's newly constructed line to Philadelphia and New York City/Jersey City with the rest of the railroad at Baltimore, Maryland. It included the Howard Street Tunnel, the Mount Royal Station for B&O's Royal Blue Line passenger trains, and the first mainline railroad electrification in the United States. The line is currently operated by CSX Transportation as part of its Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.

The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and organized into 16 regions and 170 local chapters located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The NRHS sponsors the popular RailCamp summer orientation program in partnership with Amtrak and the National Park Service, offering high school youth hands-on experience in the railroad industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camden Station</span> Rail station in Baltimore, Maryland, US

Camden Station, now also referred to as Camden Street Station, Camden Yards, and formally as the Transportation Center at Camden Yards, is a train station at the intersection of South Howard and West Camden Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, behind the B&O Warehouse. It is served by MARC commuter rail service and local Light Rail trains.

<i>Royal Blue</i> (train) Baltimore and Ohio Railroads flagship passenger train

The Royal Blue was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)'s flagship passenger train between New York City and Washington, D.C., in the United States, beginning in 1890. The Baltimore-based B&O also used the name between 1890 and 1917 for its improved passenger service between New York and Washington, collectively dubbed the Royal Blue Line. Using variants such as the Royal Limited and Royal Special for individual Royal Blue trains, the B&O operated the service in partnership with the Reading Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Principal intermediate cities served were Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. Later, as Europe reeled from the carnage of World War I and connotations of European royalty fell into disfavor, the B&O discreetly omitted the sobriquet Royal Blue Line from its New York passenger service and the Royal Blue disappeared from B&O timetables. Beginning in 1917, former Royal Blue Line trains were renamed: the Royal Limited, for example, became the National Limited, continuing west from Washington to St. Louis via Cincinnati. During the Depression, the B&O hearkened back to the halcyon pre-World War I era when it launched a re-christened Royal Blue train between New York and Washington in 1935. The B&O finally discontinued all passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, including the Royal Blue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurel station (MARC)</span> Historic passenger rail station on the MARC Camden Line in Laurel, Maryland, U.S.

Laurel is a historic passenger rail station on the MARC Camden Line in Laurel, Maryland, between the District of Columbia's Washington Union Station and Baltimore's Camden Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Kelso</span> American philanthropist (1784–1878)

Thomas Kelso was an Irish-American philanthropist and businessman, who was born in Clones, a market town in the north of Ireland, August 28, 1784. He died on the morning of July 26, 1878 at his home of many years on East Baltimore Street in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 94.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver Spring station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)</span> Railway station in Montgomery County, Maryland, US

Silver Spring station is a former train station on the Metropolitan Subdivision in Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland. It was built in 1945 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on the foundation of a previous station, a Victorian-style brick structure built in 1878. It served intercity trains until 1986 and commuter rail until 2000. Today, it is owned and operated as a museum by Montgomery Preservation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad</span>

The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad (P&BC) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It operated a 110-mile (180 km) main line between West Philadelphia and Octoraro Junction, Maryland, plus several branch lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdeen station (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)</span>

Aberdeen station is a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) station in Aberdeen, Maryland. The station was designed by architect Frank Furness, who designed some 40 stations for the B&O in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The station has deteriorated in condition mightily since B&O ended service in 1955, and was almost torn down in 2003. An eleventh hour agreement was made by CSX and the Historical Society of Harford County to save the building. The station was transferred from the Historical Society of Harford County to the Aberdeen Historical Museum in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed</span> United States historic place

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed is an historic freight station in the Southwest Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along Broad Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 and is today part of the Lincoln Square mixed-use development.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Harwood Jr., Herbert H. (1994). Impossible Challenge II: Baltimore to Washington and Harpers Ferry from 1828 to 1994. Baltimore: Barnard, Roberts. ISBN   0-934118-22-1.
  3. 1 2 Hall, Clayton C., ed. (1912). Baltimore: Its History and Its People. Vol. 1. Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
  4. ↑ Dilts, James D. (1996). The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First Railroad, 1828–1853. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN   978-0-8047-2629-0.
  5. ↑ Dare, Charles P. (1856). Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Guide: Containing a Description of the Scenery, Rivers, Towns, Villages, and Objects of Interest Along the Line of Road : Including Historical Sketches, Legends, &c. Philadelphia: Fitzgibbon & Van Ness. p.  142.
  6. 1 2 3 Clement, Dan (1983). "Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, President Street Station" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-02.
  7. 1 2 Gunts, Edward (2010-02-22). "Snowfall muffles museum's 160th anniversary". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  8. ↑ "Allegheny Observer". Railpace Newsmagazine: 43. March 2008.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Potter, Janet Greenstein (1996). Great American Railroad Stations. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 135. ISBN   0-471-14389-8.
  10. ↑ Peter E. Kurtze (November 1991). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: President Street Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  11. 1 2 Pitts, Jonathan (2015-04-08). "Road to Lincoln's end ran through Baltimore" . Baltimore Sun.
  12. ↑ Daniel Stashower. "The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln." Smithsonian Magazine.
  13. ↑ "The Thwarted Plot to Kill Lincoln on the Streets of Baltimore." Boundary Stones: WETA's Washington DC History Blog.
  14. ↑ Michael J. Kline. "The Baltimore Plot, The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln." Chapter 16, "An Unexpected Arrival." pp. 258-259.
  15. 1 2 3 Bykowicz, Julie (May 26, 2009). "City seeks tenant for landmark President Street Station" . The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  16. ↑ Wagenblast, Bernie (2002-12-24). "Re: (rshsdepot) President Street Station (Baltimore), MD" . Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  17. 1 2 Gunts, Edward (2008-01-14). "Train station is on track to preservation" . The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  18. ↑ Harwood, Herbert H. (Spring 1992). "History Where You Don't Expect It: Some Surprising Survivors". Railroad History (166): 103–125. JSTOR   43523701.
  19. ↑ Harwood, Herbert H. Jr. (1979). Impossible Challenge: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Maryland. Baltimore: Bernard, Roberts. p. 416. ISBN   0-934118-17-5.
  20. ↑ Mitchell, Alexander D. (2001). Baltimore Then and Now. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press. p. 24. ISBN   9781571456885.
  21. ↑ Klein, Allison (2000-11-02). "Historical Society to take over Baltimore Civil War Museum". Baltimore Sun.
  22. ↑ "Media room". Maryland Historical Society. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  23. ↑ Sumathi Reddy (2007-12-28). "History for sale in Inner Harbor". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2008-02-01.[ dead link ]
  24. ↑ "Station and grounds merit preservation". The Baltimore Sun. May 11, 2009. p. 10.
  25. ↑ "Cardin, Mikulski Reintroduce Bill to Advance Preservation of Baltimore's Historic President Street Station". Senator Ben Cardin. 2015-02-13. Archived from the original on 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2015-04-27. Press release.
  26. ↑ United States. John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. Pub. L.   116–9 (text) (PDF) Sec. 2003. Approved March 12, 2019.
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Calvert Street
Terminus
 Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Baltimore
toward Philadelphia
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.