Euclid Avenue station (Pennsylvania Railroad)

Euclid Avenue, known after 1953 as Cleveland station, was a former railroad station at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 55th Street in Cleveland. It was at the border of the Goodrich–Kirtland Park neighborhood to the north and the Central neighborhood to the south. Euclid Avenue station served as the terminus of the Pennsylvania Railroad line to Cleveland in its final years because of the closure and demolition of Cleveland Union Depot. The station was originally at ground level, but the tracks were later elevated over Euclid Avenue.

Euclid Avenue
Euclid Avenue station in 1912
General information
Location2001 East 55th Street[1]
Cleveland, Ohio
Coordinates41.5039°N 81.6510°W / 41.5039; -81.6510
Owned byPennsylvania Railroad
Operated byService to Pittsburgh: [2]
Service to Columbus: [3]
Line(s)Norfolk Southern Cleveland Line
Distance3.2 miles from Union Depot
Platforms2
Tracks4
History
OpenedDecember 17, 1856[5]
ClosedJanuary 29, 1965
Rebuilt1866?, 1873, 1902, 1914
Previous namesEuclid Street (until 1870)
Euclid Avenue (1870–1953)
Key dates
Demolished1973
Former services
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Cleveland
closed 1953
Terminus
 Cleveland – Pittsburgh Woodland Avenue
toward Pittsburgh
Cincinnati – Cleveland Woodland Avenue
ended 1950[lower-alpha 3]
toward Cincinnati
Former services (1900)
Preceding station Pennsylvania Lines Following station
Cleveland Shops
closed 1900[6]
toward Cleveland
 Cleveland & Pittsburgh Division Woodland Avenue
toward Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Terminus
 Cleveland, Akron and Columbus Railroad Woodland Avenue
toward Columbus
Collapsed headhouse in June 1973

History

A station at the intersection of Euclid Street (Euclid Avenue from 1870) and Willson Avenue (East 55th Street from 1906[7][8]) first opened in 1856, when Jared V. Willson and his wife executed a quitclaim deed for $1, partitioning their plot of land on the SE corner of the intersection for a small wooden shelter to be built by the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad.[9] Additional funds were provided by residents of Euclid Street, contributing $500 towards the construction of said station building.[10] The railroad and station were leased for 99 years by the Pennsylvania Company in 1871.[11]

This train station was a stop on both President Lincoln and President Garfield's funeral trains (April 28, 1865 and September 24, 1881, respectively). The caskets were unloaded and paraded to Public Square. Lincoln was brought from Buffalo to Cleveland Union Depot and proceeded to Euclid. Garfield was brought up from Pittsburgh on the PRR line to Cleveland.[12] Additionally this station served as a stop on Lincoln's inauguration tour on February 15, 1861. A new station building, described by the Plain Dealer as an "elegant little passenger station" was built at this location in August 1873.[13]

The final stationhouse opened for service on June 8, 1902, with the previous structure being demolished shortly afterwards to make room for parking on the west side of the station.[14] The tracks over Euclid Avenue were elevated in the early 1910s, prompting a repurposing of this station. On June 13, 1913, the station was temporarily closed "and then moved about twenty-five feet west and thirty feet south", allowing for the expansion of the station underneath the tracks, the vault of which is still extant today.[15] The expanded station opened on March 3, 1914, implementing the 1902 at-grade stationhouse into the design.[16] Permanent platforms and platform shelters were added once the elevated structure could settle.

This station was made the northern terminal of passenger service after Union Depot closed on September 26, 1953.[17] The Clevelander began making commuter stops on October 23, 1959, and remaining passenger service to Pittsburgh was truncated to Youngstown after April 25, 1964.[18]

Final passenger service between Cleveland and Youngstown station ended on January 29, 1965.[19][20] The station itself was demolished in June of 1973 after the roof collapsed when a freight train passed by.[21]

The 1914 vault and platform staircase remain partially intact as of 2015.[22]

1930

Noted passenger trains in 1930 included:[23]

  • Pittsburgh Express - Cleveland to Harrisburg eastbound
  • Red Arrow - Cleveland to New York eastbound
  • The Manhattan - Cleveland to New York eastbound
  • Clevelander - New York to Cleveland westbound
  • Buckeye Limited - Cleveland to New York eastbound

1954

Noted passenger trains in 1954 included:[24]

  • Clevelander - Cleveland–New York City (truncated to Cleveland–Pittsburgh in 1961, discontinued in 1964)
  • Morning Steeler & Afternoon Steeler - Cleveland–Pittsburgh (discontinued 1957 and 1958 respectively)
  • Pennsylvania Company tracks looking southeast, c. 1910s
    Pennsylvania Company tracks looking southeast, c. 1910s
  • Postcard of Penn Square district, with the Euclid Ave. station, c. 1910s
    Postcard of Penn Square district, with the Euclid Ave. station, c. 1910s
  • Gargoyles and Mementos of Euclid Avenue station, on display at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse since 1976
    Gargoyles and Mementos of Euclid Avenue station, on display at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse since 1976

Notes
  1. Referred to as the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Division after 1890
  2. Previous northern terminus was at Hudson, with some through-service to Cleveland via the Cleveland & Pittsburgh[4]
  3. Service truncated to Akron, retained as a branch line via Hudson until 1958

Footnotes
  • Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945. Volume III: Lines West of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC 13172415.

References
  1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Volume 5 ed.). Sanborn Map Company. 1913. p. 48. Retrieved 11 November 2022 – via Library of Congress.
  2. Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 123.
  3. Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 272.
  4. Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States and Canada. National Railway Publication Company. January 1886. p. 195. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  5. Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad (December 16, 1856). "Special Notice". Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer. Vol. XII, no. 293. p. 3. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  6. Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States, Canada and Mexico. National Railway Publication Company. March 1900. p. 378. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  7. The Cleveland Directory ... and Complete Street Guide (36th ed.). The Cleveland Directory Company. August 1906. p. 2155. Retrieved November 5, 2022 – via HathiTrust.
  8. "Encyclopedia of Cleveland History - STREET NAMES". Case Western Reserve University. 29 June 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  9. Rose, William Ganson (1990). Cleveland The Making of a City. The Kent State University Press. p. 278. ISBN 0-87338-428-8.
  10. "New Rail Road Passenger Depot". Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer. Vol. XII, no. 124. May 23, 1856. p. 3. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  11. Van Tassel, David D.; Grabowski, John J. (1996). The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (Second ed.). Indiana University Press. p. 781. ISBN 0-253-33056-4.
  12. "With His Own - The Arrival". The Summit County Beacon. September 21, 1881. p. 10.
  13. "The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railway Station on Euclid Avenue". Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer. Vol. XXIX, no. 206. August 30, 1873. p. 3. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  14. "The New Euclid Avenue Station to be Opened Today". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Vol. 61, no. 159. June 8, 1902. p. 7. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  15. "Pennsy's Station Has its Opening". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Vol. 73, no. 63. March 4, 1914. p. 11. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  16. "Railroads". Akron Beacon Journal. March 4, 1914. p. 8.
  17. "Pennsy Station's Demise Is Quiet; Almost Ignored". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Vol. 112, no. 270. September 27, 1953. p. 17. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  18. Mellow, Jan (April 26, 1964). "Ding Dong! Pennsy Bell Is a Dirge". The Plain Dealer. Vol. 123, no. 117. p. 38. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  19. Baer, Christopher T. "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT (1965)" (PDF). The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  20. "Time to Wet Whistle; Last Pennsy Train Here Loaded". The Plain Dealer. Vol. 124, no. 30. January 30, 1965. p. 5. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  21. Aleksandrowicz, Frank J. "PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD PASSENGER STATION, BUILT IN 1902 UNUSED SINCE 1965, FINALLY COLLAPSED IN 1973 AS A FREIGHT TRAIN PASSED BY. LOCATED AT EAST 55TH STREET AND EUCLID AVENUE". National Archives. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  22. ramificationphotography (19 March 2016). "…East 55th and Euclid Avenue was real… precious…". Wordpress. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  23. "Pennsylvania Railroad timetable, Tables H, 7, 8". Form 1. Pennsylvania Railroad. June 1, 1930.
  24. "Pennsylvania Railroad timetable, Table 23". Form 1. Pennsylvania Railroad. January 1, 1954.
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