![]() ![]() ![]() While vacationing with his family in France in the summer of 1901, Cassatt visited the Gare d'Orsay and the 'striking marriage of art and industry, the first modern station designed for electric traction,' Jonnes wrote, spurred a thought: what if the trains entered under the Hudson River through tunnels. The original station had several shops, such as the one seen above in an undated photo, as well as a barbershop, haberdashery, shoeshine stands, waiting rooms for both men and women, smoking lounge, 'luxurious pay toilets,' 'changing chambers,' 'full-service baggage rooms, a small police station and two-cell jail, a staffed medical clinic,' and two restaurants, according to Jonnes' book, 'Conquering Gotham' ![]() In 1901, the city's landscape looked vastly different, there was only span, the Brooklyn Bridge, which connected to Manhattan. Looking for a way to cross the Hudson River, there was a proposal to build a bridge but, ultimately, it didn't pan out. He would be the impetus for Pennsylvania Station. 'For decades, sole ownership of this wonderful monopoly had made the Vanderbilts America's richest family,' Jill Jonnes wrote in her book, 'Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels.'įor the other railroads, their trains ended in New Jersey, and customers then had to take ferries if they wanted to come to Manhattan.Īlexander Cassatt, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 'found these ferry rides a galling reminder that, unlike its nemesis, the Central,' his company, 'which prided itself on being the nation's largest, richest, and best-operated road, still had no way to bring its trains into the commercial heart of the nation's busiest seaport,' Jonnes wrote.īorn and raised in wealth and privilege, Cassatt was a 'bold and original thinker' who got a civil engineering degree and worked his way up from surveyor's assistant to running the railroad, according to the book. Cornelius Vanderbilt had built a shipping and railroad empire that his sons continued to run. Published: 14:25 BST, 4 July 2019 | Updated: 15:37 BST, 4 July 2019Īt the beginning of the 1900s, there was only one company, the Vanderbilts' New York Central Railroad, which could actually enter into Manhattan at 42nd Street, what is now Grand Central Terminal. At the time, only a small group of architects protested, but now the station's destruction is lamentedīy Dusica Sue Malesevic For.By the 1960s, the station was deteriorating and it was demolished to make way for Madison Square Garden.Famed architect Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White designed it and construction began in early 1903.In late 1901, the railroad started secretly buying property in the city's red light district called the Tenderloin.The bridge didn't pan out and after visiting France's Gare d'Orsay, Cassatt wanted to tunnel under the rivers.PRR's President Alexander Cassatt sought a way to cross the Hudson River, first with a bridge.Pennsylvania Railroad's trains ended in New Jersey and customers had to take ferries to come into the city.This monopoly helped to build and maintain the Vanderbilt's massive fortune and it infuriated rivals.In the early 1900s, only the Vanderbilts' New York Central Railroad entered into Manhattan at Grand Central.The original Pennsylvania Station, which opened in 1910, was named after the railroad company that built it.Some of the places that it is using, like for its loading dock, like this taxiway that has been closed since 9/11, Eighth Avenue entrances, some of the places where their heating and cooling," Torres-Springer said.A 'Roman temple to transportation': How the original New York Penn Station was a majestic Beaux-Arts gem, built in rivalry with the Vanderbilts, but was demolished in the 60s to make way for today's Madison Square Garden "We've got Madison Square Garden sitting on top of Penn Station. Torres-Springer showed CBS2 around a Penn Station that, if the Garden plays ball, will be wider and higher. "We need Madison Square Garden to cooperate and become compatible, make the arena compatible, with the station," said Jaime Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction and Development. Penn Station's ongoing transformation just got tense, because when the city asked the MTA to weigh in on how it is coexisting with Madison Square Garden, the response came in the form of a bombshell report, with the MTA using the words "not compatible" to describe the Garden and Penn. The MTA and Madison Square Garden may not be seeing eye to eye over how to coexist. NEW YORK - Two of the city's biggest landmarks appear to be at odds over expansion plans for Penn Station. ![]()
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