Baltimore Maryland

The President Street Station

This is all that remains of the President Street Station that was constructed in Baltimore Maryland near the present-day Inner Harbor area. The station itself was erected in 1849-50 as the southern terminus for the Philadelphia Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad (PB&W). In the early years passengers arriving at this station from Philadelphia, had to disembark and take a “hack” down Pratt Street about 6 blocks to the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad’s Camden Street Station. There they could board cars that were pulled out to the B&O’s Mt. Clare Station where a locomotive was attached to the front of the consist and the train ran to Washington DC. The reason for this interruption in travel in Baltimore was caused, in part, by a Baltimore City Ordinance which did not allow the railroads to use steam engines within the inner city area because of the noise, smoke, congestion, etc. By 1860’s, a track had been laid down Pratt Street connecting the 2 stations, but still, steam locomotives were not allowed to pull the cars, they had to be pulled by horses. The events of Spring 1861 demonstrated that these arrangements were inadequate and even dangerous. Two historical events from that era demonstrate the validity of this statement.

The first involved the journey of then-President Elect Abraham Lincoln as he made his way, ever-so-slowly by train from Springfield IL to Washington DC. After leaving New York City, Lincoln made his way to Philadelphia PA. While he was in Philadelphia, one of his travelling aides was approached by the President of the PB&W Railroad, S.M. Felton, and Allan Pinkerton then the head of a well-known (both then and now) private detective agency. Pinkerton reported that there was a plot developing in Baltimore to kidnap and/or possibly kill Lincoln as he moved between the two stations to make his train connections. Both Felton and Pinkerton urged the official party to depart from their published itinerary and depart for Washington immediately. Lincoln was told of the plot, but decided to go on to Harrisburg from Philadelphia anyway so that he could address the State Legislature at the Capitol.

However, once Lincoln had finished his task in Harrisburg, he assented to a deviation from his announced schedule. The plan had been for him and his “party” to spend the night in Harrisburg and depart the next day for Washington through Baltimore. However, under the re-arrangement he agreed to, his “Party” (including his family) stayed in Harrisburg that night, while he and a trusted companion (Ward Hill Lamon) departed for Philadelphia in a special train run just for the two of them. As soon as they departed Harrisburg, the telegraph wires were cut isolating that city, and all the reporters in it, from the rest of the country. That way even if it was discovered Lincoln had left Harrisburg, the news could not get out.

When Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, minus his trademark “Stove-Pipe Hat” he boarded a sleeping car that had been reserved for him by one of Pinkerton’s operatives. The ruse used when making the reservation was that the party traveling was an ill relative who was going to Washington DC.

When Lincoln arrived at the President Street station shortly after 3 in the early morning, his car was quietly and quickly pulled down Pratt Street by horses and attached to a Washington DC –bound train. Lincoln, who apparently was awake during his trip through Baltimore, arrived in DC at 6 AM. While much of the opposition press “ragged” him for his maneuver through Baltimore, later events were to prove that he made a wise choice. (Note: While I have read about this event in several different sources, I used BP Thomas’ Biography in constructing this sequence of events.)

It should be noted, given the posting of this dating, that this Philadelphia-Washington routing Lincoln took in 1861, is the same one taken January 16, 2009, by President Obama when he arrived in Washington for the Inauguration. While obviously the track alignment has changed somewhat from the original Lincoln train ride, and President Obama made his trip in the daylight, and stopped to make speeches, it was, in essence, the route Lincoln had followed in 1861.

On April 19, 1861, only a little over a month after Lincoln’s “Midnight Ride” through Baltimore, and a week after the firing on Fort Sumter SC had marked the beginning of hostilities, the 6th Massachusetts Volunteers arrived at the President Street Station bound for the defense of Washington DC (they and Seventh New York Volunteers were the first Union troops to arrive to defend that city). As the Regiment’s cars were pulled along Pratt Street they were pelted by an angry mob. Finally, the tracks were blocked and the soldiers had to dismount into the street. As they were forced to detrain and march down Pratt Street towards the Camden Street station a riot ensued. Later in the day another train filled with Volunteers from Philadelphia bound for the defense of Washington DC had to disembark at the President St. Station. They made it to the Camden Street Station only after being given a police escort.

Now, the composition of this “mob” of attackers has been debated through the years. Some then, and now, maintain that the mob consisted of Southern Sympathizers of which Maryland (after all it was a slave-holding state) in general, and Baltimore in particular, had a lot of. Another version, told in the exhibits at the Baltimore Civil War Museum, maintains that the crowd was composed, at least in part, of sailors (who were not necesarily from the South) from the bars along the waterfront (then, as now, Pratt Street is right beside the old Main docking area of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and in 1861 there were a number of saloons catering to the sailors located along the north side of the street).

In the ensuing melee 4 (some say 3) of the soldiers, and 9 of the “mob” were killed. However, the both sets of troops finally made it to the Camden Street Station and continued onto Washington DC where they joined the hastily gathered DC Volunteers (including my Great Grandfather) in the defense of the city. As a direct result of this mob attack, further movements of Union troops through Balitmore were suspended for a few months. Instead of going through Baltimore, they disembarked from their trains at the head of the Chesapeake Bay and took boats down to Annapolis. Then they marched from Annapolis up to DC through Benning MD (and the home of my Great Grandmother on another “side” of my family). Eventually the Union “occupied” Baltimore, and were able to re-establish the rail link between the two stations (I have generally used Randall & Donald’s Civil War textbook as the basis for this account but I have added information I am aware from other sources including our family’s history.)

This entire arrangement of the Pratt Street tracks continued even after the Civil War, and became the focal point of an eventual “feud” between the railroads that became the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that erupted in 1871. The feud began when the Pennsylvania Railroad formed the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) for the express purpose of building south to “the Potomac River.” The B&P began construction of its tracks at an interchange with the Pennsylvania controlled Northern Central Railroad southward. Then the P B & W built a branch up to this junction.

Under its charter from the State of Maryland the B&O had a monopoly into the city of Washington DC. However, the B &P was allowed to build branch lines not to exceed 20 miles in length. Accordingly when they extended their tracks south out of Baltimore to, eventually Pope’s Creek MD, they made sure that the line came with 20 miles of Washington DC. This allowed them to build a branch into DC along the Anacostia River. The line was complete into Washington DC in 1873. They erected a station in DC near the site of the present-day National Gallery of Art. This was the station where President James A. Garfield was assassinated.

The Pennsylvania assumed control of the PB&W in 1881 after a long fight with the Baltimore & Ohio. They began operating the PB&W and the B&P as one line with through trains from Washington DC all the way to New York City (on the Penny’s New Jersey lines). The Pennsy constructed the Baltimore Penn Station in 1911. This station was located further north in the city, on the site of the former Northern Central Railroad Depot. All passenger service to President Street Station ceased in 1922 and was shifted to Baltimore Penn Station. However, the President Street Station continued after that date for another 40 years or so as a freight station. Finally, that function ceased and the community took the building over.

The President Street Station still stands, albeit in a greatly truncated fashion. It is the Baltimore Civil War Museum noted above. I have visited there and found the exhibit to be very well-done and informative. However, since I was there, I understand that there has been a change in the ownership and operational arrangements. It is now owned by the Maryland Historical Society also located in Baltimore. It is hoped that they will maintain this museum, or even improve it, and not let it become a “useless appendage” to their Mt. Vernon area operation.

There is also talk of making the President Street Station a stop on a new subway line through Baltimore, or possibly a stop on new Commuter Rail, or Light Rail, service being proposed for that area. Whether/when that will happen is difficult to say as of the date of this posting.