Euclid Avenue, known after 1953 as Cleveland station and Pennsylvania Station, was a former railroad station at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 55th Street in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. It was at the border of the

Goodrich–Kirtland Park Goodrich–Kirtland Park is a neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Roughly bounded between Euclid Avenue to the south, E. 55th Street to the east, I-90 to the west, and Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by ...

neighborhood to the north and the Central neighborhood to the south. Euclid Avenue station served as the terminus of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

line to Cleveland in its final years because of the closure and demolition of

Cleveland Union Depot Union Depot was the name given to two intercity railroad stations in Cleveland, Ohio. Union Depot was built as the first union station in Cleveland in 1853. After a large fire in 1864, a new structure was built, and was the largest train stat ...

. The station was originally at ground level, but the tracks were later elevated over Euclid Avenue.

History

A station at the intersection of Euclid Street (Euclid Avenue from 1870) and Willson Avenue (East 55th Street from 1906) first opened in 1856, when Jared V. Willson and his wife executed a

quitclaim deed Generally, a quitclaim is a formal renunciation of a legal claim against some other person, or of a right to land. A person who quitclaims renounces or relinquishes a claim to some legal right, or transfers a legal interest in land. Originally a c ...

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 Rail Road. Additional funds were provided by residents of Euclid Street, contributing $500 towards the construction of said station building. The railroad and station were leased for 99 years by the Pennsylvania Company in 1871. This train station was a stop on both

President Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate State ...

and President Garfield's funeral trains (April 28, 1865 and September 24, 1881, respectively). The caskets were unloaded and paraded to

Public Square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

. Lincoln was brought from Buffalo to

and proceeded to Euclid. Garfield was brought up from Pittsburgh on the PRR line to Cleveland. 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 ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily a ...

as an "elegant little passenger station" was built at this location in August 1873. The rail line in this area was double-tracked in 1883. 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. 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. The expanded station opened on March 3, 1914, implementing the 1902 at-grade stationhouse into the design. 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. The Clevelander began making commuter stops on October 23, 1959, and remaining passenger service to Pittsburgh was truncated to Youngstown after April 25, 1964. Final passenger service between Cleveland and Youngstown station ended on January 29, 1965. The station itself was demolished in June 1973 after the roof collapsed when a freight train passed by. The 1914 vault and platform staircase remain partially intact as of 2015.

Passenger trains

1930

Noted passenger trains in 1930 included: *'' 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: *'' 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)

Gallery

File:Pennsylvania depot at East 55th street and Euclid (from print) - DPLA - 26e366700bf161404627f8d896732b27.jpg, Pennsylvania Company tracks looking southeast, c. 1910s File:Penn Square postcard.png, Postcard of Penn Square district, with the Euclid Ave. station, c. 1910s File:Euclid station mementos.png, Gargoyles and Mementos of Euclid Avenue station, on display at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse since 1976

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links

Case Western Reserve University Encyclopedia of Cleveland History - Pennsylvania Railroad
* {{Cleveland terminals 1856 establishments in Ohio Buildings and structures in Cleveland Railway stations in the United States opened in 1856 Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations Former railway stations in Ohio Railway stations in the United States closed in 1965