Laurel is a historic passenger rail station on the MARC Camden Line in

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River. While the city limits are entirely in northern Prince George's County, outlying developments extend into Anne Arunde ...

, between the

District of Columbia ) , 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, ...

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, the railroad's second-busiest station, and North Ame ...

and

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 ...

Camden Station 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, and is ...

Station

The Laurel railroad station was originally constructed in 1884 for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad along the railroad's

Washington Branch 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 on ...

, about halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC. The architect was E. Francis Baldwin. The structure is constructed of brick, and is one and a half stories, modified rectangle in form with overhanging gabled and hipped roof sections with brackets and

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

cresting, and an interior chimney. There is a louvered lunette in one gable, stick work in another, and fish-scale shingling under truncated hipped section; shed shelter, segmental arched openings. It is Queen Anne in style. It is nearly identical in plan and dimensions to the Gaithersburg, Maryland station Baldwin designed, also built in 1884, although the rooflines and settings are quite different. Laurel station was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1973, (although one source claims it was 1972) and was reopened as a MARC station when the Camden Line was established. A fire gutted the interior of the station, and damaged its roof and brick walls, in January 1992. In February 2009, Vice President Joe Biden, Governor Martin O'Malley, and Senator

Ben Cardin Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representat ...

gave a speech at Laurel station to gain support for an economic stimulus package in Congress that would provide funding to rebuild the station platform, among many other Maryland infrastructure projects. The funding bill passed and by mid-March, construction fencing went up for an anticipated six months of work on a new platform and other station improvement.

Station layout

The station has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...

s and a station house adjacent to the southbound platform. The station is compliant with the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

Gallery

File:Laurel Station Plaque Dec 08.jpg, Laurel Railroad Station Historic Marker in December 2008 File:Laurel Railroad Station West Side Dec 08.jpg, Downtown-side view of Laurel station in December 2008 File:LaurelRRDepot.jpg, A freight train passes through Laurel station.

References

External links

* *, including photo in 1975, at Maryland Historical Trust website *
Main Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland 1884 establishments in Maryland Camden Line MARC Train stations Buildings and structures in Laurel, Maryland Former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Railway stations in the United States opened in 1884 Railway stations in Prince George's County, Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland Queen Anne architecture in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Prince George's County, Maryland