Baltimore & Ohio Freight Station
14 December 2011
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and was created mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal (which came through Rock Point Park) and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The B&O Rail Road Company became America’s first common carrier when it was chartered on February 28th 1827 by a group of Baltimore businessmen to ensure traffic would not be lost to the aforementioned proposed Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
The B&O passenger station in Ellwood City off of Fifth Street beside the subway was torn down long ago, however the Baltimore & Ohio Freight Station on the north side of the tracks along Sixth Street was demolished in 1982. That property is now owned by the Ellwood City Forge.
In 1966, the P & LE freight station was converted into a warehouse and offices by Fotia Brothers Sales & Service owners, Sam & Joseph Fotia.
You can leave any memories you may have about the B&O Railroad below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
In this photo series of the old b&o freight house being torn down I actually jumped into a hole on the side of the building long enough to snap one picture of the bucket ripping the back of the freight house out. What was I thinking ? the old Freight house was a great roosting place for pigeons the last photograph is my favorite ..Its the last pigeon to fly out of the freight house as it was wrecked it came out thru a broken window and I snapped the picture as it escaped…james Spielvogel
James Awasome photos of the old freight station Thank you so much for sharing them….Danny John