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(rshsdepot) Orlando, FL
Via RyPN Flimsies=2E=2E=2E
Beautiful beginnings
By Joy Wallace Dickinson
Sentinel Staff Writer
September 22, 2002
And the sons of Pullman porters=20
And the sons of engineers=20
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel=2E=20
'The City of New Orleans'=20
(Song by Steve Goodman)
September is my anniversary month as a Floridian=2E In 1949, not long afte=
r
Labor Day, I stepped from a Pullman railroad car at the Orlando Atlantic
Coast Line station into what seemed a world of white sand, white stucco
walls and white-hot heat=2E
My mother, who was with me -- the rest of the family migrated in our
Pontiac woody wagon -- distinctly remembers thinking she must be stepping
into the gates of hell=2E
Floridians have for decades bragged to the folks Up North about the weathe=
r
in January=2E The summer and its spillover into September, the time of hea=
t
and hurricanes, we somehow forget to mention=2E
In any case, maybe the imprint of that sunny September day explains why th=
e
Sligh Boulevard train station, now Orlando's Amtrak station, remains my No=
=2E
1 favorite vintage building in Central Florida=2E
It's also a good candidate for the title of the least-appreciated historic=
building=2E
"Some people don't know we're here," John Barry said this week from his
office in the Spanish-mission style building=2E "But this is something the=
city shouldn't lose=2E"
Amtrak doesn't own the building, Barry said=2E It belongs to CSX Corp=2E T=
he
warehouse portion is leased to the nearby Orlando Regional Medical Center=2E=
Barry, the manager of customer services for Amtrak's Atlantic business
group, is a busy guy=2E He has 41 railroad stations to look out for, from
Petersburg, Va=2E, to Miami=2E
One of them, Union Station in Tampa, has been restored in recent years
through a partnership between the city of Tampa and a nonprofit group
called Tampa Union Station Preservation and Redevelopment, Inc=2E The work=
is
ongoing, Barry said=2E The group is now working on an old baggage building=
=2E
Beautiful beginnings
Like many of Orlando's vintage public buildings, the Sligh Boulevard train=
station dates from the 1920s, just before the land boom went bust=2E
Built in 1926 at a cost of nearly $500,000, the depot debuted in January
1927 with elaborate ceremonies brimming with railroad executives, bands an=
d
local dignitaries=2E
The station was "said to be one of the most beautiful in the South," the
Morning Sentinel trumpeted=2E
One of its finest features remains the word ORLANDO, arched over the
entrance to the station facing the trains=2E
It must be the most beautiful public rendering of the city's name, to my
eyes, at least=2E
This isn't cookie-cutter typography: Each letter was hand-designed by the
station's architect, A=2EM=2E Griffin of the Atlantic Coast Line=2E
The widely spaced letters sport graceful serifs -- the little strokes
projecting from the main body of a letter such as the feet on an A=2E An
elegant swoop finishes the letter R=2E
And it doesn't hurt that the word, with its matching beginning and ending
O's, is pretty in itself=2E
The folks who picked it must have known it had more marketing potential
than its predecessors, Fort Gatlin and Jernigan=2E
Colonnade of memories
I also love the arched colonnade that extends out from the station,
offering shelter from the sun for waiting passengers=2E
It was here that our family would wait in the 1950s and '60s for visitors
from eastern Pennsylvania, our particular slice of Up North=2E
Among them were my Northern grandparents, Florence Durbin Dickinson and
George Nibloc Dickinson, always dressed to the nines for their rail
adventure: For her, hat (with silk flower), gloves, corset, suit,
stockings, high-heeled pumps, serious purse=2E For him, snappy fedora,
starched dress shirt, dashing double-breasted suit, pocket handkerchief,
polished shoes=2E
You dressed for travel then=2E It was an occasion=2E
And my Granddad Dickinson wouldn't have traveled any other way except by
train=2E
He was a railroad man through and through, an engineer for the Pittsburgh
and Lake Erie line=2E My earliest memories include being taken to the depo=
t
of our little town in Pennsylvania to wave to him as the big engine roared=
past=2E
Not too many years after he wore his double-breasted suit to visit Florida=
,
he would depart this world at the throttle of his engine during heavy snow=
,
the victim of a heart attack=2E His last act was to stop the train safely=2E=
The railroad gave my grandmother a gold watch, I think, to honor that=2E
Silver and the Sunset
Granddad would be happy to know that people are still traveling to Orlando=
by rail, on trains that bear names from his era: Silver Meteor, Silver Sta=
r
- -- names that, although borne by steel vehicles that lack the streamlined
grandeur of their predecessors, still trail a hint of glamour and adventur=
e=2E
Orlando is now also the origin point for the Sunset Limited, which travels=
all the way to Los Angeles=2E
The folks who leave from here to ride across America will get on board at
the same station where in 1927 a crowd of 6,000 -- about a fifth of the
town's population -- jammed traffic for blocks around the building=2E
The interior of the station overflowed with potted palms and flowers=2E
The Lions Club quartet sang, two bands played, and exuberant speakers
hailed a "new era of progress and expansion=2E"
That was a long time ago, and the station could sure use a renovation like=
the folks in Tampa pulled off for their Union Station=2E
But its arched welcome to Orlando remains as lovely as ever=2E
It's a link to thousands in the community's past -- old, young, rich, poor=
,
black, white -- who have come and gone through its doors, who traveled on
that magic carpet made of steel for a visit or perhaps a new life in the
sun=2E
Don't forget
If you'd like to do some writing about Central Florida history yourself, o=
r
maybe just read more about it, you'll want to know about a new publication=
the Orange County Regional History Center has in store=2E
Titled It's About Time, it's sponsored by a grant from the Florida
Humanities Council=2E
The launch party is Sept=2E 29 at the history center, 3 to 5 p=2Em=2E, for=
all
new or established writers and for anyone interested in Central Florida
history=2E
If you plan to go, just RSVP by Wednesday with your name, phone number, an=
d
number of persons in your party by calling 407-836-8583 or by e-mail to
Pat=2EBirkhead_@_ocfl=2Enet=2E
Joy Wallace Dickinson can be reached at jdickinson_@_orlandosentinel=2Ecom o=
r
407-420-6082, or by good old-fashioned letter at the Sentinel, 633 N=2E
Orange Ave=2E, Orlando, FL 32801=2E
Copyright =A9 2002, Orlando Sentinel=20
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
------------------------------