Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops is a historic industrial district in

Martinsburg, West Virginia Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the E ...

. It is significant both for its railroading architecture by

Albert Fink Albert Fink (October 27, 1827 – April 3, 1897) was a German-born civil engineer who worked in the United States. He is best known for his railroad bridge designs, which helped revolutionize the use of iron for American railroad bridge construct ...

and

John Rudolph Niernsee John Rudolph Niernsee (May 27, 1814 – June 7, 1885) was an American architect. He served as the head architect for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B. & O.). Rudolph also largely contributed to the design and construction of the South Carolin ...

and for its role in the

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. This strike finally ended 52 day ...

. It consists of three contributing buildings, one of which is the oldest covered roundhouse in the United States. The presence of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 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 ...

Company in Martinsburg dates back to the late 1840s, when the first engine and

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...

s were erected for the expanding company. The shops were designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. They are now managed by a local authority as an event venue.

Antebellum history

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops, circa 1858

The

(B&O) was founded on February 28, 1827. On May 21, 1842, the first

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

arrived in Martinsburg and, later that same year, November 10, the first

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

. The first roundhouse complex was constructed during 1848–1850.

Civil War history

When

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

seceded from the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in 1861, the region's social and government institutions were thrown in turmoil. The

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

decimated both the region and Martinsburg, specifically because of the railroad yards. On May 22, 1861, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson's troops stopped all trains going east at Martinsburg and Point of Rocks during the Great Train Raid of 1861. Once he determined that all of the trains that could be caught were in his trap, he blew up the bridges to the west and blew down rocks onto the tracks to the east, and pirating of the B&O equipment began. In total, 42 locomotives and 386 cars were stolen and destroyed, while miles of track, 17 bridges, 102 miles of

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

wire, the “Colonnade” Bridge and the B&O roundhouse and machine shops were also destroyed. On October 19, 1862, the roundhouse complex was burned by Confederate troops under Colonel Jackson.

Postbellum history

In 1866, the B&O began reconstruction of the site. From 1866 to 1872, the present roundhouse complex was re-built. Other major buildings that were built at this time were the West Roundhouse, East Roundhouse, Bridge & Machine Shop, and the Frog & Switch Shop. On July 16, 1877, the first nationwide strike, the

, began when rail workers at Martinsburg started an action to protest pay cuts. After several unsuccessful attempts to quell the protests, Governor Henry M. Mathews called for federal troops. By the time these troops had restored order, the protest of the rail company had spread across the country.Bellesiles, Michael A. (2010). "1877: America's Year for Living Violently. The New Press, 2010. p 149. https://books.google.com/books?id=rf4q5LjLbHIC&pg=PA149 Retrieved November 27, 2012.

Modern history

The Martinsburg shops were used until March 14, 1988 (a year after the B&O folded into

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

), when all local operations were transferred to other locations. On May 14, 1990, vandals set fire to wooden pallets in the East Roundhouse, nearly destroying the building. Only portions of the outer walls remain standing. The Berkeley County Commission purchased the historic railroad property in February 1999 for $150,000 from CSX Transportation Inc. The property was transferred to the Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority in April 2000. The roundhouse authority, a public, nonprofit corporation was established by an act of the West Virginia Legislature in 1999. Efforts to preserve and redevelop the historic railroad site, which dates to the 1840s, is ongoing, but the buildings are open for public tours and can be rented for special events. In 2001, the shop complex was designated as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. On July 31, 2003, the B&O Roundhouse was designated a

and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.Michael Caplinger and John Bond (October, 2003) , National Park Service and

References

External links