Penn-North station is an underground

Baltimore Metro SubwayLink The Baltimore Metro SubwayLink is a rapid transit line serving Baltimore, Maryland, and its northwestern suburbs, operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. The segment in Downtown Baltimore is underground, while most of the line outsi ...

station and transit hub serving many buses in West

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. Its name comes from its location and neighborhood it serves Penn-North, at the corner of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and North Avenues. It is the deepest underground station, eighth most northern and western station on the line, and the first station when starting from

Owings Mills Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,674. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus o ...

that does not have free parking.

Artwork

In September 2021, the

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Washington� ...

(MTA) announced the installation of a new

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

project at Penn-North station painted by Baltimore artist Megan Lewis on a $60,000 commission. This is the first new artwork commissioned for the Baltimore Metro subway system in many years.

History

Excavation and construction

Penn-North station was referred to as North Avenue station during its planning and construction, in reference to just North Avenue and not including Pennsylvania Avenue in the name. The station is the deepest in the Baltimore Metro subway system, with its platform 120 feet below street level. Penn-North station, like the other underground stations of the Baltimore Metro subway system, was constructed using the

cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...

method. The excavation for the station mostly occurred in

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

-derived residual materials. The underlying geology consists of the crystalline

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s and their derivatives which are characteristic of the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

physiographic region which contacts

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

ary formations along the diagonal

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is noticeable especially the place rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the ...

in Baltimore. Mondawmin station and Upton station, the other subway stops built in the northwestern portion of the underground alignment, are also underlain by metamorphic Piedmont material. The excavation for Penn-North station was supported by soldier piles anchored in the earth beneath it; extending through soil up to 50 feet below street level and through rock at greater depths. References points were installed and monitored to survey the impact of structural settlement on the buildings adjacent to the excavation. The area around Penn-North station at the time of excavation included two-story residential

rowhouses A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

two- to three-story warehouse-type buildings. 0.14 feet of settlement was measured and attributed to gradual

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

drawdown which occurred during the excavation, resulting in deep-seated lateral movements which caused little observable distress on the overlying structures. Penn-North station opened in November 1983 when trains started running on the Baltimore Metro subway line. While investments occurred in the areas around many of the Baltimore Metro stations, initial plans for development around Penn-North station in the 1980s fell through.

2015 protests

In April 2015, riots broke out around the station protesting the

death of Freddie Gray On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African American, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possession of a knife. While in police custody, Gray sustained fatal injuries and was taken to the R Adams Cowley Sh ...

References

External links

North Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn-North (Metro SubwayLink station) Metro SubwayLink stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1983 1983 establishments in Maryland Railway stations in Baltimore Penn-North, Baltimore Druid Heights, Baltimore Railway stations located underground in Maryland