Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, also known as Pennsylvania Railroad Station, was a railroad station that was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in Washington, D.C., 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), now the site of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art. It was in this train station that United States President James A. Garfield was shot by assassin Charles Guiteau.
For the Baltimore & Ohio Station, see New Jersey Avenue Station.
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station
Pennsylvania Railroad Station
Pennsylvania Railroad Station
Description[edit]
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 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.[1][2]
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.[2]
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 to Virginia, and the tracks along Virginia Avenue went east into Maryland (Landover Subdivision).
History[edit]
Approval in Congress[edit]
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, opened on July 2, 1872, operated between Baltimore and Washington, where it initially erected a temporary wooden-framed station building.[3] On April 1, 1872, by a vote of 115 ayes and 55 nays the House of Representatives 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. The bill had been filibustered for some time by opponents.[4] 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.[5]
The paragraph pertaining to the depot itself reads: