President Street Station

President Street Station. Baltimore City Landmark, National Register of Historic Places, Baltimore National Heritage Area. , Completed in 1851, the President Street Station is an icon of railroad architecture, featuring Classical Revival elements and incorporating a barrel vault roof design, the first for a railroad station. Its history is also tied to significant events in Baltimore's Civil War history and courageous journeys on the Underground Railroad. President Street Station is the oldest surviving passenger railroad station located in a large urban area., The station served passengers travelling along the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. The station's head house (still standing) and original shed (now lost) were the first buildings to incorporate a Howe truss, a support system more common in mid-nineteenth century railroad bridge design., In February 1861, Abraham Lincoln secretly passed through the station as he made his way to his presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Wary of a possible assassination attempt, Lincoln entered the city during the early morning hours. Arriving at President Street Station, he then traveled across the city to Camden Station to continue his trip to the nation's capital., On April 19, 1961, Baltimore was the site of the first bloodshed of the Civil War. Union troops from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania arrived at the station and began the process of changing to trains located several blocks away at Camden Station. Crowds of southern sympathizers blocked the path along Pratt Street and began to pelt the soldiers with bottles and rocks. Gunshots were heard, and the officers ordered the troops to fire into the crowd. Ten rioters, one innocent bystander, a recently recruited Confederate soldier, and at least four Union soldiers were killed. Many soldiers and civilians were wounded., A number of slaves, including Frederick Douglass, used the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to escape to freedom. In 1849, Henry "Box" Brown may have passed through under the under-construction station. Brown, a slave in Richmond, Virginia, arranged to have himself transported to Philadelphia in a wooden crate marked "direct express to Philadelphia." His successful escape made him an icon of the Underground Railroad.