Re: (rshsdepot) President Street Station (Baltimore), MD

["fred fep" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Which RR was this, and why was it not connected south of this station?
Paul
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>
To: "Rail Depot List" <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 7:14 AM
Subject: (rshsdepot) President Street Station (Baltimore), MD


> **I'd like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.**
>
> Bernie Wagenblast
>
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> +
>
> Group wants old station to be put back on track
> President St. stop urged for city rail expansion
>
> By Stephen Kiehl
> Baltimore Sun Staff
> Originally published December 24, 2002
>
> A group of amateur historians hopes the historic President Street Station,
> where Union troops clashed with an angry mob of Baltimoreans in one of the
> first skirmishes of the Civil War, will once again welcome trains if the
> state expands downtown rail service.
> At President and Fleet streets, the head house of the 152-year-old station
> stands today in the shadow of the glimmering new Marriott hotel. From 1850
> to 1922, trains carried passengers to the station from points north and
> east.
>
> A group of history buffs, the Friends of the President Street Station,
hopes
> that will happen once more. They recently wrote letters to Gov.-elect
Robert
> L. Ehrlich Jr. and Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, urging them
to
> make the station a stop in the new Baltimore regional rail plan.
>
> "We want it to be the way it was," said Robert E. Reyes, vice president of
> the preservation group. "Historically, it's the right thing to do."
>
> The state announced last month that its priority in building the rail
> system - which would add 66 new miles of rail to the existing 55 miles in
> the region - is an east-west line from Woodlawn to Fells Point and an
> extension of the Metro subway in Northeast Baltimore.
>
> The state hopes to win federal approval to build those lines next year and
> to get trains running by 2012. Plans call for the east-west line to
include
> stops to serve the National Aquarium and the burgeoning Inner Harbor East
> area. The preservationists have suggested the President Street Station be
> used to serve Inner Harbor East.
>
> The two-story brick building with white colonnades houses the Baltimore
> Civil War Museum, which opened in 1997 after the Friends of the President
> Street Station saved the building from destruction and won it a place on
the
> National Register of Historic Places.
>
> "All your soldiers, all your ordnance, all your railroad traffic came
> through the President Street Station," said Ralph B. Vincent, president of
> the preservation group. "It was the main railroad station until Penn
Station
> opened."
>
> On April 19, 1861, a week after the Civil War began with the Confederate
> bombardment of Fort Sumter, S.C., Union troops from Massachusetts and
> Pennsylvania arrived at the President Street Station. Their rail cars were
> uncoupled from the locomotive so horses could pull them down Pratt Street
to
> Camden Station, where another train would be attached so the troops could
go
> on to Washington.
>
> Southern sympathizers pelted the rail cars with stones, bricks and debris,
> and blocked the tracks. Forced into the street, the Union soldiers, who
were
> fired upon and hit with bricks, returned fire. In all, eight rioters, one
> bystander and three soldiers were killed, becoming the first fatalities of
> the war.
>
> On April 20, 1861, The Sun reported on the riots: "As one of the soldiers
> fired, he was struck with a stone and knocked down, and as he attempted to
> arise another stone struck him in the face, when he crawled into a store,
> and prostrating himself on the floor, clasped his hands and begged
piteously
> for his life."
>
> The same day of the Pratt Street riots, there was another battle at the
> President Street Station between largely unarmed volunteer soldiers from
> Philadelphia and a Baltimore mob. While the bulk of the soldiers were
making
> their way to Camden Station, ultimately under police guard, several train
> cars remained at President Street Station.
>
> According to newspaper reports at the time, the cars were attacked with
> stones and iron bars. Several hundred volunteers fled the cars and were
set
> upon by the mob. Five of them were killed and 13 wounded before they
> reboarded the train and retreated to Philadelphia.
>
> The museum would not have to move to make way for a modern passenger rail
> stop because the new line would be either light rail, which would run at
> street level, or heavy rail, which would run underground or above street
> level. There is room for the state to build a new station adjacent to the
> old station, Vincent said.
>
> Officials with the Maryland Transit Administration said it's too early to
> determine where the stations will be, though they do expect the downtown
> portions of the rail lines to be underground to avoid street traffic. The
> officials said they will consider Vincent's request, along with the wishes
> of people who live near the planned lines.
>
> Baltimore's rail plan is generating intense interest from more than
> historians. Last week, about 130 business leaders and environmentalists
> gathered for a breakfast at a downtown hotel to hear details of the plan
and
> to learn how they could support it.
>
> "The Baltimore region cannot continue to be competitive if we don't have a
> first-rate rail system," said Theresa Pierno, executive director of the
> Chesapeake Bay Foundation. She and others said the rail system will help
the
> region attract young people and businesses.
>
> "They're looking for vibrant, exciting places to live," said Dan Pontious,
> director of the Baltimore Regional Partnership. "And one of the things
> they're looking for is rapid and reliable public transportation."
>
> His group released a report at the breakfast that shows that 44 percent of
> the region's job growth by 2025 and one-fifth of the new housing will be
in
> areas near the proposed rail lines.
>
> "Transit enables you to create a different kind of place, where you can
> focus more on people walking around rather than providing parking,"
Pontious
> said. "When people have other choices [besides cars], it opens up
> possibilities for more residential and commercial activity."
>
>
> =================================
> The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
> railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
>

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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