{"id":314,"date":"2014-08-29T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=314"},"modified":"2015-01-09T16:21:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T21:21:09","slug":"pennsylvania-railroad-station-the-pennsylvanian-union-station-penn-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/29\/pennsylvania-railroad-station-the-pennsylvanian-union-station-penn-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Railroad Station aka The Pennsylvanian aka Union Station aka Penn Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In our archive, among photos we found in a folder marked \u201cPenn Station\u201d one in particular from December 1971 says it all: \u201cLooking through the broken window of the boarding gate onto a vacant platform.” (Al Hermann\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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These walls witnessed many hellos and goodbyes, many arrivals and departures, many iterations of train designs and quite a few dramatic twists and turns in evolution of rail-based travel in America.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Railroad Station, also known among Pittsburghers as The Pennsylvanian, Union Station and more frequently as Penn Station, was conceived as a train station by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. Construction started in 1898 and was completed five years later.<\/p>\n

The station at 10th Street and Liberty Avenue began its operation on October 12, 1901.<\/p>\n

As America\u2019s railroad industry shrunk so did the number of carriages and passengers in the glamorous waiting hall beneath Penn Station\u2019s rotunda. \u00a0Although the building still hosts an active Amtrak station, the rail services occupy only a small portion of the Liberty Avenue site.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, it\u2019s more of a pantheon \u2014 a monument, if you will \u2014 to the glamorous promises and glorious days of railroads in America.<\/p>\n

Today Amtrak offers only two trains departing from Pittsburgh, The Capitol Ltd. and the Pennsylvanian. According to reviews posted on Yelp, the train station itself “could use a facelift<\/a>.\u201d Last renovation dates to 1988. Annual ridership of Pittsburgh\u2019s Penn Station<\/a> is estimated at 135,137 (2013).<\/p>\n

The extravagant building with the famous rotunda in Downtown Pittsburgh was never meant to become a place for weddings<\/a> or a luxury apartment complex. But, hey, it could have been more unusual \u2014 in the 1970s, the Council of Allegheny County proposed the building to be the site of the then-planned David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Yep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The station at 10th Street and Liberty Avenue began its operation on October 12, 1901.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPennsylvania Railroad Station aka The Pennsylvanian aka Union Station aka Penn Station<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[1209,1210,1208,993,1039,1165],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_nb1fjaHLO11rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1010&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2533,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/11\/march-10-1951-wabash-railroad-station-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":0},"title":"Wabash Railroad Station and Building","date":"September 11, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Built at the intersection of Liberty Ave and Ferry St, currently known as Stanwix St, the building served as a station of the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_ma049mwdsC1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C953&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2164,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/04\/travelers-flock-to-penn-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":1},"title":"Travelers flock to Penn Station","date":"January 4, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The station is known to Pittsburghers as Penn Station and was completed in 1903.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mg2fg10beL1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=864%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2666,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/07\/oct-31-1980-ronald-reagan-visits-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":2},"title":"Reagan campaigns in Pittsburgh in 1980","date":"August 7, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On that Halloween in 1980 Reagan spoke at a Station Square rally on the South Side, accompanied by Sens. John Heinz and Richard Schweiker.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8e8b7Bv3e1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C807&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1972,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/13\/record-flood-inundates-pittsburgh-in-1907\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":3},"title":"Record flood inundates Pittsburgh in 1907","date":"March 13, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"When the flood of March 1907 deluged the city at the confluence of three rivers, Pittsburg was spelled without its h.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mjjwxkZjj51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C825&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":535,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/06\/23\/the-freedom-trains-journey-through-pennsylvania\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":4},"title":"The Freedom Train\u2019s journey through Pennsylvania","date":"June 23, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Fifty-two railroads shared the task of taking the Freedom Train on its 33,000-mile journey.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_n7dqfdKlMq1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C969&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1442,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/02\/labor-day-in-the-steel-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":314,"position":5},"title":"Labor Day in the Steel City","date":"September 2, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"During a business downturn in 1894, Pullman cut workers\u2019 wages, but not rents.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mscnzeQUcT1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1134&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3838,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions\/3838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}