Big Apple History . Building the Big Apple . The Great Stations Of Yesteryear


	Afternoon in Penn Station, New York

New Yorkers are used to change. The old is constantly being replaced by the new. But after the city tore down Pennsylvania Station in 1963, when the Pennsylvania Railroad that owned it went bankrupt, it seemed like everyone had the same sorry thought: You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

With its glass domes and soaring steel columns, Penn Station was an architectural wonder. More than that, it served as Manhattan Island's first direct link to the rest of America. Until it opened in 1911 -- along with the six tunnels that ran under the Hudson and East Rivers -- there were no trains into or out of Manhattan. Passengers had to get off and take ferries to the island.


Grand Central Station, New York, 1904

In 1913, Penn Station was joined by another grand train station, Grand Central Station, which was located on 42nd Street. Grand Central's waiting room was designed to be spectacular: 120 feet high, with a blue ceiling painted to look like the night sky. Unlike Penn Station, Grand Central has survived, thanks to its long-lost sister station. After the destruction of Penn Station, New Yorkers passed a historical preservation law. Under that law, protected buildings like Grand Central cannot be torn down.

Top illustration: Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Illustration at bottom: Courtesy of the Library of Congress.