Oldest train station in America - B & O station in Ellicott City

The Ellicott City B & O train station, on lower Main St., was opened in 1831.  The right (southern) portion of the station was a "Car House" for repairs, making it also the only "combination" rail road station still in existence.  It is a museum, owned by Howard County since 1997, with free admission.  Go visit!   The track and railroad bridge are still in use by CSX. To the side of the station is a turntable, a replica of the first horse drawn passenger car "The Pioneer", an 1885 brick freight station building and a 1927 caboose.

The Ellicott's donated the land and granite for the new station.  The rock walls average 18 inches thick, and the first floor outer doors were slightly higher to easily load and unload from wagons, according to the book listed below. 

The repair section of the station - Car House - was altered in the mid 1830s, a few years after the station was built, to accommodate steam engines.  Two "steam ports" or "funnels" were put in the ceiling with vents on the roof.  The floor was opened so they could work on the bottom of the train which was on rails (shown by darker wood on the floor). The two double doors on the end were replaced in 1837 by one larger double door; and by 1857 the doors were walled up.  After two decades the steam engines became too large for the room and that portion of the station became the baggage room and storage.  One part of the room is now a play area with train toys for kids.

“The station is still in use [1926]… I went up the wooden steps that lead to it from the street.  At the landing… boards of the floor are nearly a foot in width, the steps up which I had come were hollowed by the tramp of generations of feet.”   The Sun June 20 1926

In 1838 James Lea (grandson of George Ellicott and great-grandson of one of the founders) etched his name by the second floor door to the tracks. (more HERE)

Initially, passengers used the railroad hotel with the covered porches at train level and the freight was taken to the station. Post on the hotel as station is HERE

An image from 1857 and one from 1855 shows the Oliver Viaduct (stone rr bridge, more HERE), hotel porch as passenger station, freight station, and steam train. Click to enlarge

 

"Pioneer" - 1830 horse drawn car replica

1871 sketch of "first railroad passenger car" from 1830. More HERE

Turntable  built 1863. From the Md. Historical Trust form: “Built in the early 1840s, when the trains were no longer pulled into the station house...The original floor area apparently was of cinder fill and was later improved with cobblestones.” Filled in years later.

1894 map - 50 foot turntable & station

1930s view of outer turntable wall

1885 freight house

1927 caboose

CSX coal train on active tracks next to the station

Christmas display of many train sets, one was this lego panorama of station, freight house, caboose and Main St.

Floods have occurred often in the past from the Patapsco River but the station was blocked on the river side by a tall embankment topped with the train tracks.  The 1868 flood was so high - 21.5 feet - that it went above the tracks.  In 1972, the flood waters from tropical storm Agnes - 14.5 feet - went under the bridge and flooded the first floor.  CSX ended service to the station and it became a museum. 

The last two floods ran down the hill from the Tiber, Hudson and New Cut branches (creeks), and down Main St. (6 feet high in 2016, 8 feet in 2018) into the river, but missed the station.

B & O - Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road past and future blog posts. HERE

Some sources .

National Register of Historic Places HERE
Maryland Historical Trust nomination form 35p HERE
HoCo Parks and Rec HERE

The Ellicott City B&O Railroad Station: A National Historic Landmark by Janet Kusterer, Travis Harry and Charles Kyler.  Historic Ellicott City, Inc.: 2005  (includes 1930s photo)


©2018 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD