Lima station (Pennsylvania Railroad)

Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot
Front of the station
Location 424 N. Central Ave., Lima, Ohio
Coordinates 40°44′42″N 84°6′7″W / 40.74500°N 84.10194°W / 40.74500; -84.10194Coordinates: 40°44′42″N 84°6′7″W / 40.74500°N 84.10194°W / 40.74500; -84.10194
Area 1.1 acres (0.45 ha)
Built 1887
Architectural style Queen Anne
NRHP reference # 03000805[1]
Added to NRHP August 21, 2003

Lima is a historic former train station in Lima, Ohio, United States. Built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1887,[1] it is a brick Queen Anne structure that rests on a sandstone foundation.[2] The Lima station is located 261 miles west of Pennsylvania Station in Pittsburgh, PA, 705 miles west of Pennsylvania Station in New York, NY, and 228 miles east of Chicago Union Station in Chicago, IL along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's mainline between New York City and Chicago. Lima station was formerly served by the Pennsylvania Railroad's flagship Broadway Limited daily passenger trains between New York City and Chicago.

Railroad history

Allen County's first railroad line was built by the Indiana Railroad in 1854 and later subsumed into the Pennsylvania Railroad system.[3]:335 By the early twentieth century, Lima was a transportation center located at the confluence of five major American railroads: Pennsylvania Railroad; Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (a.k.a. B&O); New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad (a.k.a. Nickel Plate Road); Erie Railroad; and Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad (a.k.a. DT&I), [3]:338 and its economy was highly dependent on the industry-leading, world-famous Lima Locomotive Works.[4]:2 However, through consolidation of class I railroads and subsequent abandonment and downgrading of redundant lines, the railroad industry in Lima has declined significantly: by the 1990s all passenger train service to Lima was discontinued and the former Pennsylvania's mainline through Lima had been relegated to branch line service by the Norfolk Southern Railway. As a result, Lima's Pennsylvania station went vacant,[2] the rest of the city's passenger train stations, freight depots and other railroad buildings had long since been demolished, and by the late 1990s all of the 67-acres of buildings that once housed the Lima Locomotive Works had also been demolished.[4]:3

Recent history

Unlike much of Lima's railroad-related structures (e.g., the Baltimore & Ohio, Nickel Plate Road and Erie Railroad train stations and round houses), the Pennsylvania Railroad station has survived in good condition. Its well-preserved historic architecture and its place in local history qualified it for addition to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as the Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot.[2] One year later, the station was renovated for adaptive reuse: although a new entrance was added and modern restrooms were attached to the station's rear, its historic integrity was little changed, and the yard surrounding the station was kept in its previous state. Working for a Lima business association, the LJB construction company completed the renovation project in May 2004.[5] Today, the station is used as the offices of the customer service center for the Lima utilities department.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-05-13.
  3. 1 2 Rusler, William, ed. A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio. Vol. 1. Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1921.
  4. 1 2 Hopkins, Phyllis G. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Lima Multiple Resource Area. National Park Service, 1980-05-15. Accessed 2010-05-13.
  5. ↑ Project Profile: Train Depot Restoration Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine., LJB Inc. Accessed 2010-05-13.
  6. ↑ Utilities Department Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine., City of Lima, 2010. Accessed 2010-05-13.

Media related to Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot at Wikimedia Commons

Preceding station   Pennsylvania Railroad   Following station
Elida
toward Chicago
Main Line
Lafayette
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