The Lost Train Stations and Depots of Greater Cincinnati - Part 2: The Pennsylvania Station

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad Passenger Station Was Part Of Early Cincinnati Riverfront Skyline

Part 2 of an ongoing series on lost and forgotten train stations/depots of the Queen City and vicinity.

In our second installment of the lost train stations and depots of greater Cincinnati, we will focus on a station that serviced the area for 52 years. The Pennsylvania Station, or Pan Handle Depot, was constructed by the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad, who had taken over the Little Miami Railroad in 1868. With the new Newport & Cincinnati Bridge opening in 1872, business was booming. But the old Little Miami Depot (built in 1854) was having a hard time handling the nearly 90 trains a day The company decided to construct a new station, literally right next to the new bridge on the Cincinnati side.

Architect S.J. Hall, under the direction of the P.C. and St. L R.R chief engineer M.J. Becker, drew up plans and started building the new station in 1880. Sitting at the corner of Pearl St and Butler St, the passenger station portion of the complex ran 116 feet down Butler, and 89 feet down Pearl St. It was a press bricked building on a limestone foundation. It stood 2 stories tall with a clock tower that rose another 1.5 stories.

Plans of the P.C. & St. L R.R. station. (Provided)

The ground floor contained the general waiting room. To the left of the main Butler St. entrance was the ladies waiting room. (Keep in mind that it was custom to have separate waiting rooms for ladies during this time period, mostly because of the drunken men who would harass women travelers.) Also to the left of main entrance was the Pullman office and package room. In the back of the main waiting room were two doors that led to the platform shed. To the right of the main entrance was a dining room, a kitchen, the conductors room, the telegraph office, and the depot-master’s office.

The second story contained the office of the Superintendent, more conductor rooms, and the train dispatcher office. All of the interior walls were frescoed in oil and trimmed with black walnut.

The train platform shed that ran along Pearl St. was 360 feet long and 85 feet wide and had an entrance for four tracks. Near the southeast corner of the passenger station was an 85 X 24 foot building for baggage and mail. On Front St., just below the train shed, was the freight house that stretched 505 feet and was 94 feet wide.

Overhead look at where train station and buildings once sat. (Provided)

Total costs of station (Buildings and Structures of American Railroads, 1893)

Station as seen at night from a postcard (Provided)

The back portion of Penn Station looking west. Pearl St is on right. (Provided)

By the time of WWI, there were 50 trains per day passing through the busy station. On April 2, 1933, trains were rerouted to the new Union Terminal and the Penn Depot was closed down. There was talk in the summer of 1933 of repurposing the station to hold lambs before they were shipped off to market, but the plans never went through. The complex was demolished in 1963. The old passenger station and shed is now a parking lot, while Sawyer Point Park sits where the freight house once stood.

Cincinnati Enquirer, 6/24/1933

Penn Station in 1929.

Penn Station site in 2020.

Today, the Cincinnati Dinner Train route uses a track that was in operation at the old depot site.