Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station Pennsylvania Railroad Station | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) The B&P Railroad Station | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Corner of B Street NW & 6th Street NW | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°53′30″N77°01′13″W / 38.89167°N 77.02028°W /38.89167; -77.02028 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Pennsylvania Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operated by | Baltimore and Potomac Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Structure type | At-grade | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architect | Wilson Brothers & Company | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1873 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | October 14, 1907 (line moved toUnion Station) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheBaltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, also known asPennsylvania Railroad Station, was a railroad station that was owned by thePennsylvania Railroad and operated by theBaltimore and Potomac Railroad inWashington, 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 (nowConstitution Avenue), now the site of the West Building of theNational Gallery of Art. It was in this train station thatUnited States PresidentJames A. Garfield wasshot by assassinCharles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881.
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 inVictorian Gothic style, 55 feet high, of pressed red brick with black mortar and belt courses of Ohio freestone. 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 awye junction at Sixth Street SW, Maryland Avenue SW, and Virginia Avenue SW. Ironically, the tracks along Maryland Avenue ran over theLong Bridge toVirginia, and the tracks along Virginia Avenue went east intoMaryland (Landover Subdivision).
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, opened on July 2, 1872, operated betweenBaltimore 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 theHouse 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 theArmory. The bill had beenfilibustered 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:
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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[2]
The site presented problems since it was a former marsh, the bed ofTiber Creek;[2] the station was built over the oldWashington City Canal.[3] A foundation of five feet of Ohio freestone was laid over pilings driven ten feet deep.[2]
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.[7]
On July 2, 1881, it was announced in the local newspapers thatUnited States PresidentJames A. Garfield would be leaving for his summer vacation.[8] En route to board a train toNew Jersey, he was shot in the back by assassinCharles Guiteau while walking across the lobby of the Baltimore and Potomac station withJames 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 on September 19.[9]
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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 theJames 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.[10]
On March 2, 2019, theNational Park Service erected exhibit panels to mark the site of the assassination.[11]
In 1907, both theNew Jersey Avenue Station and the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station shut down to relocate to the newly builtUnion Station. 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.[12]
On March 15, 1908, thePhiladelphia, 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.[13] According to a local newspaper, the station was demolished by order of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt before December 17, 1908, without authority or notice to the public.[14]
By 1914, the site had become the designated location for the George Washington Memorial Association'sGeorge Washington Memorial Building.[15] However, the site was occupied by twotemporary war buildings from 1918 to 1921.[16] On November 14, 1921, a ceremony took place to lay the cornerstone for the new building.[15]
However, the building never materialized and in 1937, it was decided to use the site for theNational Gallery of Art. Construction on the foundation started that year. On August 21, 1937,The Washington Post 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.[15]
The West Building of theNational Gallery of Art on theNational Mall was completed on the site and was accepted on behalf of the American people by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt on March 17, 1941.[17]
william bender wilson.
