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Western Maryland Railway Station
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Western Maryland Railway station in 2003
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| Location: | Canal St., Cumberland, Maryland |
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| Built: | 1913 |
| Architect: | Unknown |
| Architectural style: | No Style Listed |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
73000885 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | June 19, 1973 |
Western Maryland Railway Station is a historic railway station in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. It was built in 1913 as a stop for the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and is a large commercial-style building that expresses the architectural functionalism of the turn of the 20th century. The brick structure is nine bays long and three bays wide, with two monumental stories on the west facade and three stories on the east. A one-story platform shelter runs along the west facade and extends out toward the tracks.[2]
The WM began daily through-train passenger service between Baltimore and Chicago, by way of Cumberland, on June 15, 1913. For several years the premier trains on the route, the Chicago Limited and Baltimore Limited, featured Pullman sleeping car service. Other WM trains ran between Cumberland and Elkins, West Virginia. The number and variety of passenger trains decreased through the years of the Great Depression and aftwerward. The WM ended its passenger train service between Cumberland and Baltimore in 1953, and the Cumberland to Elkins trains ended in 1959.[3]:239-266
The station served as control tower for the WM until the railway was absorbed by Chessie System in 1973. The building slowly fell into disrepair, and for a time was used by the Kelly Tire Company to store tires. With the advent of the initiative in Cumberland to create a scenic railroad using the former WM trackage north out of Cumberland, the Station was partially restored in 1990. Full restoration did not begin, however, until the creation of the Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority in 1996.[4] This restoration created a museum area for the National Park Service on the first floor; a waiting area, gift shop, and cafe on the second floor; and office spaces on the third and fourth floors. Exterior work included the construction of an elevator tower; third, display track; a second platform; handicapped passenger accessibility ramp; and the restoration of the platform shelters, WM employee memorial, and the pedestrian railroad underpass.
Today the building is part of a preservation district called Canal Place, a facility operated by the Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority. The station houses offices of the Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, a visitors center for the National Park Service's C&O Canal National Historic Park, and leased offices to local officials and businesses.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1]
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