![Panoramic view of Washington, D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Panoramic_view_of_Washington%2C_D.C.6a36336v.jpg)
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, also known as Pennsylvania Railroad Station, was a railroad station that was owned by the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
and operated by the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad
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 Nor ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, from July 2, 1872 until its closure in 1907. It was located at the southern corner of 6th street NW and B Street NW (now
Constitution Avenue
Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened bet ...
), now the site of the West Building of the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
. It was in this train station that
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...
was
assassinated by
Charles Guiteau
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
.
Description
The main building of the station had a 120-foot frontage on B Street NW and a 90-foot frontage on 6th Street. It was in
Victorian Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style, 55 feet high, of pressed red brick with black mortar and belt courses of Ohio free stone. There were three towers covered with elaborate roofs of red, blue and green slate and decorated with ornamental iron, including a 100-foot clock tower on the corner. The lower level housed waiting rooms, baggage rooms, and ticket offices, with offices above.
More land was purchased on Virginia Avenue to house locomotives. An iron train shed south of the terminal building was erected on screw piles. It was 600 feet long and 120 feet wide and had 25-foot decorated iron columns supporting an arched roof approximately 50 feet high at its crown. The arch was decorated with an eagle and the sides with ornamental figures. The building was lighted from above and the lower part opposite the government grounds was faced with ornamental scroll work.
Tracks ran south from the station along 6th Street to a
wye junction at Sixth Street SW, Maryland Avenue SW, and Virginia Avenue SW. Ironically, the tracks along Maryland Avenue ran over the
Long Bridge
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...
to
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 ...
, and the tracks along Virginia Avenue went east into
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
(
Landover Subdivision).
History
Approval in Congress
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, opened on July 2, 1872, operated between
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and Washington, where it initially erected a temporary wooden-framed station building.
On April 1, 1872, by a vote of 115 ayes and 55 nays the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
passed a bill that allowed the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad) to build a depot on the lot at the corner of 6th Street NW and B Street NW, just north of the
Armory
Armory or armoury may mean:
* An arsenal, a military or civilian location for the storage of arms and ammunition
Places
*National Guard Armory, in the United States and Canada, a training place for National Guard or other part-time or regular mili ...
. The bill had been
filibustered for some time by opponents. On May 21, 1872, ''An Act to confirm the Action of the Board of Aldermen and Common Council of the City of Washington, designating a Depot Site for the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company, and for other Purposes'' was ratified.
[42nd Congress Session II. C. 189 – May 21, 1872.]
The paragraph pertaining to the depot itself reads:
Beginning at the southwest corner of Sixth Street and B street north, running west one hundred and fifty feet along B street; thence south eight hundred and two feet to the present line of the canal; thence east one hundred and fifty feet to the line of Sixth Street; thence north by line of Sixth Street to the place of beginning; and the said company shall, so far as the United States can so provide, have the right to hold, use, and occupy may use the said grounds for the purpose of constructing thereon a passenger depot, to be used by the said company for passenger and express-freight traffic, and for no other purposes.
Construction
Preparation of the site began before the bill passed. It was located one block from the city's largest market,
Center Market, which opened a few months later the same year. Temporary platforms were erected, and construction crews started preparing to lay track up Sixth Street. The station was designed by Joseph M. Wilson, architect and principal assistant engineer of the construction department of the Pennsylvania Railroad; the engineer in charge was Joseph Wood.
The site presented problems since it was a former marsh, the bed of
Tiber Creek
Tiber Creek or Tyber Creek, originally named Goose Creek, is a tributary of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was a free-flowing creek until 1815, when it was channeled to become part of the Washington City Canal. Presently, it flows un ...
;
the station was built over the old
Washington City Canal
The Washington City Canal operated from 1815 until the mid-1850s in Washington, D.C. The canal connected the Anacostia River, termed the "Eastern Branch" at that time, to Tiber Creek, the Potomac River, and later the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Ca ...
.
A foundation of five feet of Ohio freestone was laid over pilings driven ten feet deep.
The new station opened in 1873. Construction was completed on July 16, 1874, and a celebration with a collection for the workmen was held at Platz's Saloon.
James Garfield assassination
On July 2, 1881, it was announced in the local newspapers that
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...
would be leaving for his summer vacation. En route to board a train to
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, he was shot in the back by assassin
Charles Guiteau
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
while walking across the lobby of the Baltimore and Potomac station with
James G. Blaine. While the president survived the initial shooting, doctors subsequently probed his wounds with non-sterilized objects in a frantic search for the bullet. The bacterial infections they introduced to the wound were the likely cause of his eventual death in September.
![Garfield Assassination Site (4225800751)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Garfield_Assassination_Site_%284225800751%29.jpg)
A marker was placed on the train station wall after the death of the President, and a gold star was placed on the floor to mark the spot. The marker and the star were lost when the station was razed in 1908.
Garfield Circle with the
James A. Garfield Monument is located six blocks southeast of where he was shot. The monument was unveiled on May 12, 1887, while the station was still active and the assassination still in the local memory.
On March 2, 2019 the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
erected exhibit panels to mark the site of the assassination.
Closure and demolition
In 1907, both the
New Jersey Avenue Station and the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station shut down to relocate to the newly built
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
. The B&O Railway decided to start running trains from Union Station as of October 26, 1907, while the Pennsylvania Railway set itself a deadline of November 16, 1907.
On March 15, 1908, the
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railway Company released its rights to the station at 6th Street NW and B Street NW to the United States government for $1,500,000. According to a local newspaper, the station was demolished by order of President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
before December 17, 1908, without authority or notice to the public.
Site
By 1914, the site had become the designated location for the George Washington Memorial Association's
George Washington Memorial Building.
However, the site was occupied by two
temporary war buildings from 1918 to 1921.
On November 14, 1921, a ceremony took place to lay the cornerstone for the new building.
However, the building never materialized and in 1937, it was decided to use the site for the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
. Construction on the foundation started that year. On August 21, 1937, ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that the cornerstone had been dug up. A small metal box had been found inside and handed to David E. Finley, trustee for the Gallery of Art. It was passed on to A. K. Shipe, former attorney of the ill-fated project. A large gold star was found in the box; this was believed at the time to be the gold star from the train station marking the spot where President Garfield had been shot.
The West Building of the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
on the
National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...
was completed on the site and was accepted on behalf of the American people by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
on March 17, 1941.
References
{{authority control
Demolished railway stations in the United States
History of Washington, D.C.
Railway stations in Washington, D.C.
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1873
Railway stations closed in 1907
National Mall
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
Demolished buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.
Assassination of James A. Garfield
Buildings and structures demolished in 1908
Assassination sites