Gettysburg station

{{short description|Historic train station in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox station | name = Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station | other_name = Gettysburg Train Station<br/>Lincoln Train Station<br/>Western Maryland Railroad Station | symbol_location = | symbol = | type = | image = Gettysburg Railroad Station (current).jpg | alt = | caption = The {{circa|1858}} Italianate depot with arched windows, cornice moldings, and a low-pitched roof with eaves (the 1-story addition was in 1886,<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|20}}). | address = 35 Carlisle Street | borough = Gettysburg, PA | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|39|49|55.232|N|77|13|51.46|W|display=inline,title}} | owned = Gettysburg National Military Park | operator = Gettysburg Foundation | line = {{unbulleted list|Western Maryland Railway {{small|''(defunct)''}}|CSX Transportation ''{{small|(freight line - does not stop at station)}}''}} | platforms = 1 | tracks = 1 | train_operators = | structure = At-grade | parking = | bicycle = Yes | accessible = Yes | website = | opened = {{Start date|1858|5}} | closed = {{End date|1942|12|31}} | years = 1863-1865 | events = Service is interrupted at the station as the Confederate Army made its way north and engages the Union Army during the Gettysburg campaign. Service is only restored following repairs to the rail lines and bridges. | other_services_header = Former services | other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system=Western Maryland Railway|line=Gettysburg|left=Seven Stars|right=Granite}} | embedded = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Gettysburg Train Station | nrhp_type = cp | nocat = yes | image = | alt = | caption = | location = Gettysburg, Pennsylvania | built = {{circa}}1858 | architect = | architecture = | restored = {{start date|2009}} | restored_by = Gettysburg Foundation | added = | partof = Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District | partof_refnum = 75000155 | designated_nrhp_type = {{start date|1975|3|19}} | refnum = | mpsub = Battle of Gettysburg MPS<ref name="NPS-MPS Gettysburg">{{cite web|title=Adams County, PA Properties Associated with the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/nrhp/text/64500520.pdf|website=National Register of Historic Places - Multiple Property Documentation Form|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> }} }}

The '''Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station''', also known as the "Gettysburg Train Station," "Lincoln Train Station" or "Western Maryland Railroad Station,"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station|url=http://www.destinationgettysburg.com/members/historic-gettysburg-train-station.asp|publisher=Destination Gettysburg|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> is a historic train station with depot, platform, museum and offices on Carlisle Street in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Operable from 1858 to 1942, it contributes to the Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District<ref>{{cite journal|author1=111th Congress, 2nd Session|title=BOUNDARY REVISION OF THE GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK|journal=Senate Report 111-330|date=27 September 2010|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-111srpt330/html/CRPT-111srpt330.htm|access-date=25 September 2015|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office}}</ref> and is most notable as President Abraham Lincoln's point of arrival on November 18, 1863 and departure, following delivery of the Gettysburg Address.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fortenbaugh|first=Robert|title=Lincoln And Gettysburg: The Story Of Abraham Lincoln's Immortal Address At Gettysburg|year=2006|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|location=Whitefish, MT|isbn=9781428662186|pages=11–16}}</ref> The station served as both a hospital during the battle and hub for outgoing wounded soldiers and incoming resources and supplies following the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web|last=Frost|first=Herbert|title=Statement on Senate Bill 1897 before the Subcommittee on National Parks of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee|url=http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=0cc24fa5-6964-480f-a3a3-259a312b00d9|access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> On 2015, following several years of delays, the station, which was originally owned by the Borough of Gettysburg but was bought by the Gettysburg Foundation, the non-profit partner to the National Park Service, was placed under the purview of the National Park Service.<ref name="Station expansion - TES">{{cite news|last1=Walters|first1=Mark|title=Gettysburg park to include Lincoln Train Station|url=http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-gettysburg-park-expands-lincoln-train-20141212-story.html|access-date=25 September 2015|work=The Morning Call|publisher=The Evening Sun|date=12 December 2014}}</ref>

==History== After an uncompleted 1830s plan for a railroad through Gettysburg,<ref>{{cite web|title=Map and profile of the Gettysburg Rail Road as surveyed by order of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1839|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/98688668/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=25 September 2015|ref=G3824.G3P3 1839 .C3}}</ref> on December 1, 1858, the Gettysburg Railroad line was completed from the east to Gettysburg with a reception for railroad dignitaries held several days later at "a large and recently furnished building near the depot"<ref name="BACA-Gettysburg RR">{{cite news|title=Opening of Gettysburg Railroad|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_pdBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9rcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4081,5685889&dq=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en|access-date=25 September 2015|work=Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser|date=18 December 1858|page=1}}</ref> (the depot was being built on {{Convert|0.4|acre|ha|abbr=on}}<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|9–10}} purchased from George W McClellan in the summer).<ref name=AC1859/> The Gettysburg Railroad Company had contracted for Passenger Depot construction on September 18, 1858<ref name="AdamsCentinel- RR Bldg">{{cite news|title=Railroad Buildings|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SDNreWq1RjYC&dat=18580920&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|access-date=25 September 2015|work=The Adams Centinel|issue=46|date=20 September 1858|location=5th column, first paragraph|page=2}}</ref> for "the Corner of Carlisle and Railroad street"; and on January 10, 1859, the stockholders resolved to hold their future meetings "in the office ''[of]'' their Passenger Depot".<ref name=AC1859>{{cite news|title=Railroad Report: To The Stockholders of the Gettysburg Railroad Company|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sYYlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CvMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1655,2193002&dq=gettysburg+railroad&hl=en|access-date=25 September 2015|work=The Adams Centinel|issue=11|date=17 January 1859}}</ref>

{{quote box |width=33em |align=right |border = |bgcolor= |style= |fontsize=70% |title=Depot configuration and reversing the train |quote=The completed depot had two 1st floor waiting rooms (for men and for women & children) and, via a spiral staircase on the eastern side, a large open room on the 2nd floor. The ticket booth/office was a small structure attached to the southeast part of the station.<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|10}} After an 1886 expansion, the original 2-room headhouse became the men's waiting room and was separated from the women's room in the new space by a long hallway.<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|20}}

Until the tracks were extended west of Gettysburg, trains reversed near the station to return eastward: #Arriving westbound on the main line, an engine with passenger car switched onto a siding and stopped along a long loading platform behind the depot where passengers detrained. #The engine backed the car from the 1st siding onto a 2nd siding{{Where|In which direction was the 2nd siding from the first?|date=July 2011}} where the car was disconnected. #The engine then switched back onto the main line{{Clarify|Was this from the 2nd siding or by going back onto the 1st siding? An image is needed with a map of the tracks to show the sequence.|date=July 2011}} (the engine was reversed).<!--The previous claim of a turntable on the mainline track (allegedly in the Bennett reference) is preposterous--> #The passenger car was rolled back onto the 1st siding{{Clarify|by horsepower, manpower, or something else? Also, if the switching is what reversed the engine, e.g., from the 2nd siding onto the mainline (rather than a turntable on the mainline track).|date=July 2011}} along the platform for loading. #The engine backed onto the 1st siding, connected to the loaded car's opposite end, and headed east.<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|10}} }}

==American Civil War== Train service to the depot was stopped when Jubal Early's Confederates burned the Rock Creek trestle on June 27, 1863.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Syd Lieberman|title=Sarah Broadhead - Saturday, June 27, 1863|url=http://voicesofgettysburg.com/sarah/|website=Voices of Gettysburg|access-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901180654/http://voicesofgettysburg.com/sarah/#Jun27|archive-date=1 September 2011}}</ref> The station was undamaged during the battle and returned to service in 1865 following the end of evacuation of the wounded or dead and repairs to the lines.

The station was used as a hospital, and soldiers used the station's cupola during the battle.<ref name=OpenBldg-GRS>{{cite web|title=Gettysburg Railroad Station|url=http://openbuildings.com/buildings/gettysburg-railroad-station-profile-30062|website=OpenBuildings|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> A station east of the borough was established for Camp Letterman before rail traffic was restored to the depot on July 10,<ref>{{cite web|title=GETTYSBURG IN THE CIVIL WAR: 1861 to 1865|url=http://kevintrostle.com/GETTYSBURG_IN_THE_CIVIL_WAR.html|website=A Brief History of Gettysburg|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> and by the end of July, nearly 15,000 wounded troops had passed through the station<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|15}} via the twice-daily trains.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Historic Railroad Station at Gettysburg|url=http://historical-travels.com/2009/10/05/gettysburg-railroad-station/|website=Historical Travel|access-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171055/http://historical-travels.com/2009/10/05/gettysburg-railroad-station/|archive-date=11 July 2011}}</ref> A medical inspector of the Army arrived on July 8 and used the depot while "in immediate charge of the transportation of the wounded".<ref name=Kingseed>{{cite book|last1=Kingseed|first1=Cole C.|title=The American Civil War|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=9780313316388|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americancivilwar0000king/page/145 145]–147|url=https://archive.org/details/americancivilwar0000king|url-access=registration|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref>

===Heroine of the station=== As the Confederate forces approached the town the depot's telegrapher, the adopted young daughter of a "Mr. (Brown) Lee in Washington {{sic|county,}} Pa.", evacuated the station at the beginning of the battle and "took the machine from the operating table ''[and]'' connected the wires so as to preserve the circuit intact and carried the instrument to Cemetery Hill" where, after instructing soldiers how to connect to the wires (e.g., along the Baltimore Pike), she used the key to relay Union Army information. The girl remained during the duration of the battle, even when the soldiers around her were felled by bullets and shells. After the battle, she packed up the machine and returned to the station to resume her work. Her name was unknown during and after the battle and a news article 30 years later attempted to identify the young girl.<ref name=WDR-Heroine>{{cite news|author1=Mary Dye|title=The Heroine of a Telegraphic Story of the Battle of Gettysburg|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZRZeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E2ANAAAAIBAJ&dq=gettysburg-station&pg=4847%2C4327433|access-date=25 September 2015|work=Washington Daily Reporter|issue=48|date=16 December 1890|location=Washington, PA}}</ref>

==Gettysburg Address== For the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg<ref>{{Cite report |last=Lincoln |first=Abraham |author-link=Abraham Lincoln |title=''expenses in attending the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg'' |location=Washington, D. C. (White House)}} (cited by [https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3ASoldiers'%20National%20Cemetery%20(Gettysburg%5Cc%20Pa.)%20-%20Anniversaries%5Cc%20etc&page=1 Klement p. 267)]</ref> on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln arrived at 6:00&nbsp;p.m. on the 18th and departed 24 hours later, having delivered the Gettysburg Address[https://web.archive.org/web/20110727162553/http://palincoln.org/the-historic-gettysburg-railroad-station/].

==Postbellum== (L. D. Plank replaced Charles T. Rose as the 1902 Western Union Telegraph operator in the "W. U. office")<ref>{{Cite news |title=Miscellaneous |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lf0lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qvIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3735%2C4652191 |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Gettysburg Compiler |access-date=2011-07-28 |quote=''The jury appointed to fix a value on the four tracts of land in Cumberland township belonging to Mrs. Mary A. Pfeffer, will meet in the Court-house to-morrow afternoon at 1.30 o'clock to hear testimony.'' |date=May 20, 1902}}</ref> and the station's railroad line became part of the successor lines: Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway (1870), Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad (1874), Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway (1885), and Western Maryland Railway (1917). The last passenger train departed the depot at 4:00&nbsp;p.m. on December 31, 1942, when the depot's passenger service was discontinued.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jKMlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VPwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5782%2C5020515] (scheduled Reading passenger service had ended in 1941).[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=32373] The depot was used until 1948 for administration of freight trains and telegraphy.<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|23}} On April 1, 1955, Western Maryland leased the building to the Gettysburg Travel Council (CSX Transportation owned the station in 1987).<ref name="Bennett">{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Gerald |year=2006 |orig-year=1999 |title=The Gettysburg Railroad Station: A Brief History |location=Gettysburg, Pennsylvania |publisher=Gettysburg Railroad Station Restoration Project }}</ref>{{rp|25–6}}

===Renovation=== Following a 1996 meeting regarding the station's condition{{Citation needed|reason=borough council minutes? ? index at http://www.gettysburg-pa.gov/mmi.htm |date=July 2011}} (the station was near collapse),<ref>{{Cite report |title=unnamed architectural survey |publisher=tbd firm }} (cited by Bennett p. ~28)</ref> renovation was funded. The Borough of Gettysburg acquired the property on May 6, 1998; the [http://www.gettysburg.travel/about/gcvb.asp Gettysburg Convention and Visitors' Bureau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808123815/http://www.gettysburg.travel/about/gcvb.asp |date=2011-08-08 }} vacated the depot in 2002; and renovation began in January 2005 (completed 2006).<ref name="Bennett" />{{rp|27–31}} The Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was "pivotal in the grand re-opening of the Historic Gettysburg Train Station"[http://www.gettysburg.edu/dotAsset/2242842.pdf] on the 2006 anniversary of Lincoln's arrival. The borough approved a 2007 2nd floor lease for the Gettysburg International Arts Festival,[http://www.gettysburg-pa.gov/minutes/borough_council/2007/040907.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322234058/http://www.gettysburg-pa.gov/minutes/borough_council/2007/040907.htm |date=2012-03-22 }} and the station has been operated by the National Trust for Historic Gettysburg since 2008.[http://www.cumberlink.com/news/state-and-regional/article_5d9d3c1a-0eca-514a-a579-9b5321cec259.html] [http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/article_d5dee9b2-1229-11e0-8c6b-001cc4c002e0.html In 2010], {{USBill|111|H.R.|4395}} by Todd Platts failed in the US Senate for allowing Gettysburg National Military Park acquisition of the depot.[http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-111srpt330/html/CRPT-111srpt330.htm]<ref>{{cite news |title=Platts introduces law to include Railroad Station in park boundary |first=Scot Andrew |last=Pitzer |newspaper=Gettysburg Times |date=2009-12-18 |url=http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/article_d156f4bd-d1a7-5a93-bf57-72b8b180a6ea.html }}</ref>

==Gettysburg railroad museum== The depot's first floor is a museum with an information counter and is open daily (free) to the public. The museum contains models, diagrams, exhibits, and artifacts which were found during the renovation of the station.

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Gettysburg station|Gettysburg Railroad Station}} * [https://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/gettysburg-lincoln-railroad-station Official website (Gettysburg Foundation)]

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Category:Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Category:Italianate architecture in Pennsylvania Category:Museums in Adams County, Pennsylvania Category:Railroad museums in Pennsylvania Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1859 Category:Former Western Maryland Railway stations Category:American Civil War hospitals Category:Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania Category:National Register of Historic Places in Adams County, Pennsylvania Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Adams County, Pennsylvania Category:Repurposed railway stations in the United States Category:Former railway stations in Pennsylvania Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1942