By Duncan Virostko, Museum Assistant

By the 1850s, the emergence of railroads shifted the nexus of transportation along Euclid Avenue away form Dunham Tavern, and Dunhamsburgh, a short distance west to the newly erected Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad depot which became the center of a new informally named sub-neighborhood: Penn Square.

Penn Square was the common name for the area centered around Euclid Ave and East 55th St., and the site of the railroad station on the mainline originally built by the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad in 1856.

The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad was leased in 1871 for 99 years by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in the twentieth century would go on to become the second largest eastern railroad in the United States. It was from this railroad that the name of the development in the area derived.

There were three depots built on the site: the original depot of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh in 1856, one built by the Pennsylvania in 1873 shortly after it leased the line, and a later replacement built in 1902 and extensively modified in 1913. Each building was located in a slightly different location, evolving alongside the railroad it served. Of these, scholarship has generally focused on the last station, as it managed to survive until its dramatic collapse in 1973.

The locomotive *Nashville* of the CC&C RR, at Cleveland’s Union Depot, poses for a photo. Lincoln’s funeral train is still across town at the Euclid Ave. station.

The first station at what was then Euclid Street and Willson Street sat on property originally owned by the eponymous Jared V. Willson, and sold to the railroad for the nominal sum of $1. Local residents also raised some $500 for construction of a modest wooden depot. The depot sat to the south of the intersection of the two roads, and was typical of local stations of the period.

The main Cleveland station of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh was the Union Depot, constructed at the same time, which was located along the lakefront, not from the present day site of Huntington Bank Field. This first Union Depot was a joint venture between the Cleveland & Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, and Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroads. A portion of this first Union Depot would subsequently burn down in 1864, and be reconstructed into a second Union Depot which would serve Cleveland’s railroads until the 1929 erection of the Terminal Tower. The building would continue to be used until 1953, with its sole user being the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was largely because the Terminal Tower was funded by the arch rival of the Pennsylvania, the New York Central Railroad, which had sold the famous Nickel Plate Railroad to the Van Swerigans, builders of the Terminal Tower, as the result of antitrust actions by the Federal Railway Administration in the wake of World War I.

The Euclid St. station was thus of a secondary nature, and designed mainly to serve the local residents on the east side of Cleveland. In 1865, however, it took on outsized importance, as part of the funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln. Originally, Cleveland city planners had intended for the funeral procession to begin at the Union Depot and travel a short distance to the califique that had been specially constructed to receive Lincoln’s remains in Public Square. The califique was the only building specially constructed for the massive public funeral, and was the result of reports of crowd control issues in other cities where Lincoln had already lain in state. This same massive outpouring of national grief, and the headlines it generated, soon convinced planners that the funeral procession would have to be extended in length in order to accommodate the massive crowds that would surely attend. Being a later stop on Lincoln’s final journey, Cleveland planners were thus able to adapt and improve upon other cities' ceremonies.

The solution was to reverse the direction of the funeral procession’s route, and have it travel from the Euclid St. Station west towards the square. This was a simple change to make for local planners, but the logistics on the railroad half of the equation was rather more complex. The Lincoln funeral train arrived in Cleveland at the Union Depot behind the locomotive L Chase of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad at 6:50 AM April 28th 1865. The CP&A company was the parent of both the Cleveland & Buffalo and Cleveland & Erie RRs respectively. The train had left Buffalo, NY at 10:10 PM April 27th, and left Erie, PA at 2:15 AM.

Lincoln’s funeral railcar, *United States*, in the yard at Columbus, Ohio. The men standing on the platform are members of the specially selected honor guard for the funeral, pulled from the disabled veterans serving in the Veteran Reserve Corps. This car was constructed a the first official Presidential vehicle during the Civil War, but never used by Lincoln while he was alive.

The locomotive Dispatch of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad then took charge of the nine-car train, consisting of the railcar United States which bore Lincoln’s remains, the directors car of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, a baggage car and six coaches. The train then south-eastbound into the Euclid St. station, arriving at 7:20 AM. The casket was then transferred from Lincoln’s famous 16 wheeled funeral railcar into a glass-sided hearse drawn by a team of six white horses, and to the 36 gun salute of the cannons of the 8th Ohio Battery National Guard, set off towards Public Square. The procession reached the square by 9:15 AM. The day was typically rainy, as befitting the solemn occasion. A short service by Episcopal Bishop Charles McIlvaine was given, beginning at 10 AM. Almost 90,000 people would come to see the body of the martyred President, with public viewing ending at 10 PM. Meanwhile, the funeral train ran back northbound to Union Depot and then had the locomotive changed out for the next leg of the journey. The casket was taken to Union Depot in a procession that started at 10:30 PM, and the train would then depart for Columbus on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, pulled by the locomotive Nashville. The train then passed Berea at approximately midnight, and arrived in Columbus at 7:30 AM, on April 29th.

The second Euclid Ave. station, built ca. 1871.

In 1871, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Cleveland & Pittsburgh, consolidating their growing empire of leased railroads which would later make it one of the larger railroad companies in the eastern United States. With this lease and later merger came a need to modernize facilities on the railroad, and so a new depot was constructed at East 55th St, and Euclid Ave. Like the preceding depot, it was a wood frame structure, and featured two brick chimneys, circular windows on its ends, and gothic arch style windows typical of the Carpenter Gothic style of architecture then popular on railroads. The new station offered all the latest technologies of the time for waiting passengers’ comfort: gas lighting, running water, and flush toilets! The station was a simple but well designed suburban station on what was becoming an important mainline into Cleveland. It was this station which would sadly receive a second Presidential funeral train: that of the murdered James A. Garfeild, who would be taken from the station to the fashionable new Lakeview Cemetery for interment.

The railcar that carried the body of the late President Garfield to Euclid Ave. station was built by the Barney & Smith company of Dayton, Ohio.

The station was by this time opposite another depot, situated to the north, which was served by the Euclid Street Railroad’s horse cars. Barns for the horses were also located across the street. This streetcar line crossed over the railroad at grade, ie. at the same level, using a crossover track. Such arrangements were common in the 19th century, it was also incredibly dangerous. The constantly running nature of streetcars, the high speed and mass of steam trains compared to them, and the rudimentary signaling technology of the day, virtually ensured that collisions between unexpected steam locomotives and dawdling streetcars. In an era when both trolley and train cars were made of wood, any collision could reduce man and machine to splinters. The problem would only become even more severe as the Penn Square area developed, and more railroad and streetcar tracks were put in, and the number of trains and trolleys passing through increased.

*Chaos!* This view, prior to the elevation of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, shows the dangerous intersection of streetcar lines, steam railroad line, and pedestrian and vehicle traffic on Euclid Ave. The lack of automobiles suggests an date not long after the completion of the third Euclid Ave. station in 1902.
Note the three story tower here, controlling pneumatically powered crossing gates, an early attempt at improving safety.

In 1902, with Euclid Avenue at the height of its Millionaires Row period, Pennsylvania Railroad decided to upgrade the station. A new structure was created to the northwest of the tracks, an elaborate red brick station with large glass windows, mosaic marble floors and glazed white bricks on interior walls. The station was lit entirely with electric lights for the first time.

The issues of streetcar and railroad tracks crossing at the same level remained however, and increasingly large and fast trains and numbers of streetcars only made matters worse. In 1910, the City of Cleveland began a massive project which would take some five years to complete, in concert with the Pennsylvania Railroad, to raise their tracks above Euclid Ave. The result would be safer streets for Cleveland, and a greatly improved right of way for Pennsylvania. In 1913, the practically brand new station was thus temporarily closed for reconstruction.

Horse drawn wagons, electric streetcars, and early automobiles linger on the brick streets outside the station in this early view of Euclid Ave.

Another, closer view of the third station in it’s pre-1913 configuration. A young couple pose for the photographer in their Edwardian best, whilst a gaggle of paper boys look on in amusement. A bowler hatted man stands next to a US Mail package box, the first models of which were introduced in 1894 by the Van Dorn Ironworks of Cleveland. Behind it is a Dormeus style post mounted letter box introduced in 1889.
Originally, letter boxes were designed to be attached to lampposts, and were painted blue or red, which led to confusion with police and fire call boxes. By this time however, both letter and package boxes had been repainted olive green to avoid this issue, and would not be painted blue again until 1957.

The reconstruction work included a 9,800 square foot addition to the existing structure. The new addition featured two waiting rooms: a 5,600 square foot main waiting room and a 693 square foot ladies waiting room. Both had terrazzo floors, some five feet of white wainscott topped with brick, and glass skylights.The addition was seamlessly incorporated into the newly elevated railroad line above, and vaults beneath that structure allowed passengers to reach new elevated platforms where they could board trains. A telephone based public address system was also added, and parking was increased at the site to accommodate more newfangled automobiles. Even the bridge's piers were clad in ornamental cast iron sheathing to resemble Greek Ionic columns, one of which managed to survive until 2021.

Euclid Ave. station as reconstructed after 1913. The flat roofed addition linking the new viaduct to the station is clearly seen here.

Euclid Ave. station in the 1950s. Visible in this view of the station are the canopies of the elevated platforms where passengers boarded trains, reached via staircases located in a vault under the viaduct.

This final version of the station would be served by a number of luxurious named express trains on the Pennsylvania Railroad, amongst them the Pittsburgh Express, Red Arrow, The Manhattan Limited, Buckeye, Clevelander, and the Stealer. Over the years competition from unregulated airlines, buses, trucks, and cars eroded the profits of Pennsylvania Railroad and its competitors, and many passenger trains were discontinued to save money. With the closure of Union Depot in 1953, the station was the sole PRR station left in the city of Cleveland, and increasingly used for Cleveland-Youngstown commuter trains. This service however only lasted until January 29, 1965, when it was discontinued. Just three years later, the Pennsylvania Railroad itself was gone, having merged with arch-rival New York Central into what would become Penn Central Railroad, a shotgun wedding engineered by the Interstate Commerce Commission that would ultimately result in the total bankruptcy of the largest US railroad then in existence. Poor planning for the merger, and financial malfeasance by the former leaders of the Pennsylvania who largely controlled the corporation doomed not just the railroad, but also the old Euclid Ave station. Having fallen into disuse and disrepair like most of Penn Central’s physical plant, the building suffered a catastrophic collapse in 1973, as a heavy freight train rumbled past. With its passing, the Penn Square era came to an end, and with it not only a historic landmark but any potential of revival to passenger service to the area.

To add insult to injury, present day posters advertising the “Penn Square Garden” project depict the streamline steam locomotive of arch rival New York Central’s Mercury, rather than one of the more appropriate and equally Art Deco Pennsylvania locomotives of the 1930s.

Art Deco Pennsylvania K-4 class Pacific type 4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 3768, aka *Torpedo,* streamlined for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The first of many stream liners, steam and later diesel powered, to run on the PRR from the late 1930s to the early 1960s.

Penn Square was not just a hub of transportation, it was also a hub of manufacturing. Numerous manufacturers were at various times concentrated just south of the station. One of the earliest of these was Younglove & Massey Co., manufacturers of agricultural implements such as seed drills, harrows, and threshing machines.

The firm had roots back to the 1850s, formed originally by William DeWitt. In 1856, DeWitt added M.C. Younglove as a business partner, and built new works in the Flats.

Moses C. Younglove, born Dec 3rd 1811, had started his career in Cleveland selling books and stationary in 1837. He had continued in that line of work until 1852, expanding into the printing business and helping to install a steam printing press at the Cleveland Herald newspaper in 1845. By 1848 he had formed the Cleveland Paper Mill Co., the first steam powered paper mill west of the Alleghenies, and also gained a controlling interest in the Cleveland Gas Light & Coke Co. Younglove’s addition to DeWitt’s firm in 1856 was thus part of his increasing involvement in bringing industrialization to Cleveland.

It was shortly her that the first connection between Younglove & DeWitt and Penn Square was formed: the carriages for the cannons of the 8th Ohio National Guard, later present at the depot for Lincoln’s funeral, were constructed at the works in 1864. The order was a rushed one: Ohio had sent all of its cannons off to war, leaving none to guard the home front. Gen. Morgan’s raid of 1864 led the state to place a new order for cannons with Cincinnati founder Miles Greenwood. Unfortunately, sabotage by disloyal elements led to a fire that destroyed the carriage shops of the works, leading to the need for an alternate supplier. Younglove & DeWitt had the facilities available, but not the knowledge: they had never made cannon carriages before! M. C. Younglove was however an ardent abolitionist and long time member of the Cleveland Anti-Slavery Society, and therefore could be relied upon to be loyal to the Union at a time when even many Northerners were not. The Ohio state government was thus forced to order plans for the carriages from the US. Army, and then send them to Younglove & DeWitt so that the company could complete the order.

By 1870 the company had been renamed the Younglove & Massey Co., and was in need of expansion. M.C. Younglove himself was by this time playing a less direct role in the company’s daily business, having largely retired in 1865. The site chosen for the expansion was immediately south of the Pennsylvania station, taking advantage of the rail connection to easily receive raw materials and ship finished goods.

Unfortunately, these new buildings kept falling victim to devastating fires: one which destroyed them before completion of work in 1871 and another in 1872 which destroyed all but the foundry building. By 1875, Younglove had sold off his interest in the company, and the firm carried on business under the name Abbot, Brew & Co.

The company expanded its product line at this time, into producing architectural cast iron, used to construct ornamental facades of buildings. In Cleveland, two prominent buildings which made use of this innovation in architecture were the Ryder’s Art building and the Cobb & Bradley Block building, the latter surviving until 2009 when it was demolished. In Chicago, they also supplied the facade for the second Singer Sewing Machine Co. building constructed at the corner of Washington & State St as the result of a fire. Subsequent expansion of the depot, in its 1905 form, led to the demolition of the former Younglove & Massey Foundry.

The first Warner & Swasey factory, ca. 1880s. Image courtesy of Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections.

Immediately south of the site, however, was an equally important Cleveland based manufacturer: Warner & Swasey. Now perhaps more famous for its large derelict campus, the Warner & Swasey Co. specialized in precision manufacturing. The company was formed in 1881 by Wrocester Warner and Ambrose Swasey, at East 55th St and Carnegie Ave. and gradually grew to encompass most of the land south of the Pennsylvania Depot. Their most famous work was in the production of large lenses for astronomical telescopes, such as the lenses for Lick Observatory in California in 1886, which helped fuel the scientific revolution in our understanding of the solar system.

An American sniper, ca. 1918, shows off the tools of his trade: a 1903 Springfield .306 cal bolt-action rifle with a hand painted, camouflaged stock, and a Warner & Swasey Model 1913 telescopic sight. These sight were fragile and complex, ill suited for trench warfare, and their large rubber eye pieces tended to suction onto the faces of soldiers.

Prior to WW1, Warner & Swasey even produced telescopic sights for the 1903 Springfield Rifle: the Model 1908 and 1913. They were overly complex, and had a litany of flaws that made them generally unsuitable for use in the trenches of WW1, where they saw use. Chief amongst these were the mirrors within the sight being susceptible to fogging by moisture and debris accumulating on the inside of the telescope body (often tiny flecks of the black paint jarred loose by recoil), which were magnified greatly by the six power lenses into vision obscuring masses. Model 1908 sight often had lenses that fell into the body of the scope when the rifle was fired, an issue addressed but not wholly solved in the otherwise identical Model 1913. The mounting between the scope and the rifle were also often wobbly, affecting accuracy and requiring field modification: either wedging it more firmly in place with disposable razor blades as shims or adding additional screws to prevent it working loose and pointing off target. Amusingly, the large rubber eye cups of the telescope also had a tendency to suction cups themselves to soldier’s faces under recoil. Small holes had to be made into the eye cup to remedy the problem. What Snipers of WW1 needed was a simple and rugged scope, calibrated to a maximum of 1000 yards where most combat occurred and hits could be reliably made. What Warney & Swasey designed was a complex and delicate sight, calibrated to absurdly long ranges up to 3000 yards, and better suited to target matches at a range.

These sights were quickly discarded in the 1920s and largely discarded: today they are rare collectors items.

The Warner & Swasey factory, constructed in phases between 1906 and 1910, ca. 1914. The Pennsylvania Railroad’s freight depot, immediately south of the Euclid Ave. Station, is seen in the background.

However, Warner & Swasey also dealt in more mundane products which were no less important. The majority of their profits came from machine tool production, such as building turret lathes, which in turn allowed other companies to improve the precision of their own production. The Warner & Swasey Company continued its business well into the late 20th century, with the East 55th St plant eventually being shuttered in 1980 and the company’s final plant closing in 1992.

**Faculty & Students of Cleveland School of Art, ca. 1898-1900**.
*Extreme Left: Fredrick Carl Gotwald, Life Drawing & Painting Instructor*
*Third From Left, standing: J.H. Donahey, later a political cartoonist for Plain Dealer*
*Third From Right of Tree: Grace Walsh, later a decorator for Lewis Romier Co.*
*Next to Tree on the Right: Mary Ames, later Art History & Painting Instructor*
*Third from Right: Georgia Leighton Norton, Principal*

The arts were also well represented in the Penn Square area. The Cleveland Institute of Art, originally the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, was founded in 1882, at the home of Horace Kelly along Wilson Ave, late East 55th St. to the south of the depot. Born in 1819, Horace Kelly was the nephew of Kelly’s Island founder and businessman Thomas M. Kelly, who raised Horace after the death of his father Joseph Reynolds Kelley in 1823. Horace made his living primarily in real estate, and upon his death in 1890 would leave most of his personal fortune to help create the Cleveland Art Museum, and is thus considered one of its founders. The new school attracted students of all genders in spite of its name, and became the Cleveland School of Art in 1892. In 1904, the school moved to a new location at Juniper and Magnolia Drives in University Circle where it would remain until 1956. The move was probably connected to the reconstruction of the station around this time.

The Penn Square area was host to a major transportation hub in the form of the Pennsylvania Railroad station that was its namesake. Around that station, a vibrant mini-neighborhood sprung up, featuring several important manufacturers and even institutions of art. The Penn Square area thus took on the role previously filled by the Dunhamsburgh area as the transport, commerce, and social nexus of what would later be called Midtown.

Today however, there is little left of Penn Square. Most of its buildings are now long demolished, and only scars and some white bricks remain to attest to the presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad station which lent its name to the area. The one exception to this had been relics salvaged from the collapsed depot in 1975, and now on display at Rockefeller Park.

Surviving ornaments of the Euclid Ave. station, on display at the greenhouse in Rockefeller Park.

There is another relic, connected to the station's finest hour as the first stop of Lincoln’s funeral procession through Cleveland which also survives. The Model of 1857 Light 12 pdr “Napoleon” cannon, Miles Greenwood foundry Number 179, which fired the salute which started the procession, survives today on display at the Ohio Statehouse. It is slated to attend the commissioning ceremony of the USS. Cleveland in October 2025, some 160 years since it last rendered honors.