Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad Passenger and Freight Station

Description:	Drawing of the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad Passenger and Freight Station by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. TERRE HAUTE & RICHMOND R. R. FREIGHT DEPOT AT TENTH AND WABASH (MAIN STREET). Drawn by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute artist and architect.The first railroad station in Terre Haute was that of the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad, later the Vandalia Road and today the Pennsylvania Line. It was located north of Wabash Avenue at Tenth street and is part of the present freight station.The railroad was brought here largely through the efforts of Chauncey Rose. He had the cooperation and advice of John brough, president of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, in starting the enterprise. When the time came for actual construction of the road, it was through him that Mr. Rose engaged C. R. Peddle, then with the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, to bring out from Boston the first engines which would be needed to construct the road and start it in operation.The road was finished in 1852, and a station was constructed at Tenth and Main streets. This was the one-story center portion which is just back of the two-story front we see today. The building was 60 feet wide and was constructed so that trains might run into it, the west platform and track being used for passengers and the east ones for loading and unloading freight. The south end was boarded up and passengers entered the station through a small door in the side. It is said an engine got out of control once and broke through this wall before it could be stopped. There was a large brass bell suspended near the ceiling which was rung to announce the departure of trains. The roof construction of this earliest portion of the building is interesting to note. The 60-foot span is carried without intermediate supports and the lower member of each truss is a single timber 60 feet long and hand hewn.This first station served the road for about a year. The next year, an early account says, the Evansville & Crawfordsville (the E. & T. H.) was finished and a small passenger station was erected south of Main Street to serve both roads. The map of 1854 shows both buildings, each as the depot for its own line, but perhaps the above arrangement had not then been completed. The south portion of the freight house as it stands today was constructed in 1853 and is so marked on a metal tablet set in the front of the building. I am told that the double arched opening in the south wall was built to allow trains to enter or leave the station from the south side. This building was constructed by A. L. Chamberlain who was very active in the building field in this period. As I understand, the front and middle portions of this building are pretty much as originally built except for the modifications required when the trains ceased to run through. Extensions have since been made to the north end of the structure.About 1860 traffic had so increased that a larger station was needed and a large brick hotel which Mr. Rose had erected at Tenth and Chestnut streets for railroad employees was remodeled and converted into a station. This was more than adequate for the needs of 1860 and served the road until 1893 when the new Union Station now known as the Pennsylvania Station was completed.This first building seems a small station compared with our railroad facilities in Terre Haute today, but for the day in which it was built it must have been quite a large and impressive one. My first reaction on being told that this was the first station in Terre Haute was one of surprise that anyone would construct so large a building for what was then rather an experimental venture in a moderate sized community.The fact that the trains ran into the building and that it was in reality largely a train shed helped some to explain it, but I believe it is mostly due to the confidence that the builders had in the future of railroading and of Terre Haute which was entirely justified in later years.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/843
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Railroad stations Railroad Facilities Architecture Transportation

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