A photograph from 1903 of the interior of the train shed at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broad Street Station, across from City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The station was the final destination in Philadelphia for trains and passengers coming from the Lykens Valley. Famous trains such as the Buffalo Day Express departed from here and made stops at Halifax and Millersburg before heading to Buffalo. The Susquehannock provided daily service between Philadelphia and Williamsport from 1938 through the early 1950s, and also stopped at Halifax and Millersburg.
Designed by famed architect Frank Furness, Broad Street Station opened in December 1881 and was in use until 1952 when it finally closed. It was razed in 1953. The train shed, completed in 1892, spanned 16 tracks, and was the largest such structure in the world.
The station was derided for two major reasons: (1) the smoke from coal burning engines was brought into the heart of the city; and (2) the infamous Filbert Street Viaduct, derisively called the “Chinese Wall,” which elevated the trains two stories above street level but also cut the western part of Center City in two.
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