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History of Grand Central Terminal
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History of Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on the same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads.
Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for three railroads in present-day Midtown Manhattan. In 1871, the magnate Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt created Grand Central Depot for the New York Central & Hudson River, New York and Harlem Railroad, and New Haven railroads. Due to rapid growth, the depot was reconstructed and renamed Grand Central Station by 1900. The current structure, designed by the firms Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore, was built after a 1902 crash between two steam trains had prompted a study of the feasibility of electric trains. The building's construction started in 1903 and it was opened on February 2, 1913.
The terminal continued to grow until after World War II, when train traffic started to decline. In the 1950s and 1970s, there were two separate proposals to demolish Grand Central, though both were unsuccessful. The terminal was given several official landmark designations during this period. Minor improvements occurred through the 1970s and 1980s, followed by an extensive rehabilitation in the mid- and late 1990s.
From 1913 to 1991, Grand Central was also a major intercity terminal. In its latter years as an intercity station, all trains traveling along Amtrak's Empire Corridor—the former main line of the New York Central—originated and terminated at Grand Central. In 1991, Amtrak consolidated its New York City services at nearby Penn Station. The East Side Access project, which brought LIRR service to a new station beneath the terminal, was completed in January 2023.
Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for the Hudson River Railroad, the New York and Harlem Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad in what is now Midtown Manhattan. The Harlem Railroad was the first of these railroads to operate, having been incorporated in 1831. The railroad had been extended to Harlem, in upper Manhattan, by 1837. The first railroad structure of any kind on the modern-day site of Grand Central Terminal was a maintenance shed for the Harlem Railroad, built c. 1837 on the west side of Fourth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets.
Since the Harlem Railroad had the exclusive right to operate along the east side of Manhattan south of the Harlem River, it originally ran as a steam railroad on street level along Fourth (now Park) Avenue. After the passage of laws prohibiting steam trains in Lower Manhattan, the railroad's southern terminal was moved northward from 14th Street in Union Square to 26th Street near Madison Square. In 1857, the New Haven Railroad built a terminal adjacent to the Harlem Railroad's; their rail lines turned into a rail yard shared by both terminals, which was the beginning of the idea of a central terminal, shared by different rail companies. The building was later converted into the first Madison Square Garden.
The New Haven Railroad was chartered in 1849 and had trackage rights to operate on the Harlem Railroad's tracks from Wakefield, Bronx, to Manhattan. The Hudson River Railroad did not have any trackage rights with the Harlem Railroad, so it ran in Manhattan separately along what would become the West Side Line, terminating at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in what is now Hudson Yards. When the city banned steam trains below 42nd Street c. 1857–1858, the Harlem and New Haven Railroads' southern terminal was moved there. The Hudson River Railroad, meanwhile, was limited to the west side of Manhattan, away from the development that was concentrated on the east side.
The business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who operated steamboats along the Hudson River, started buying the Harlem Railroad's stock in 1863. By the next year, he also controlled the Hudson River Railroad. Vanderbilt attempted to get permission to merge the railroads in 1864, but Daniel Drew, a one-time competitor in the steamboat industry, bribed state legislators to scuttle the proposal. Drew unsuccessfully attempted to short-sell Harlem and New York Central stock, and Vanderbilt made large profits after buying stock in both companies. Vanderbilt became the president of the Hudson River and New York Central railroads in 1867, and merged them into the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad two years later, on November 1, 1869. He then built a connecting line along the Harlem River's northern and eastern bank, running from the Hudson River Railroad in Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx, to the junction with the Harlem Railroad in Mott Haven, Bronx, as part of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad.
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History of Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on the same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads.
Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for three railroads in present-day Midtown Manhattan. In 1871, the magnate Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt created Grand Central Depot for the New York Central & Hudson River, New York and Harlem Railroad, and New Haven railroads. Due to rapid growth, the depot was reconstructed and renamed Grand Central Station by 1900. The current structure, designed by the firms Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore, was built after a 1902 crash between two steam trains had prompted a study of the feasibility of electric trains. The building's construction started in 1903 and it was opened on February 2, 1913.
The terminal continued to grow until after World War II, when train traffic started to decline. In the 1950s and 1970s, there were two separate proposals to demolish Grand Central, though both were unsuccessful. The terminal was given several official landmark designations during this period. Minor improvements occurred through the 1970s and 1980s, followed by an extensive rehabilitation in the mid- and late 1990s.
From 1913 to 1991, Grand Central was also a major intercity terminal. In its latter years as an intercity station, all trains traveling along Amtrak's Empire Corridor—the former main line of the New York Central—originated and terminated at Grand Central. In 1991, Amtrak consolidated its New York City services at nearby Penn Station. The East Side Access project, which brought LIRR service to a new station beneath the terminal, was completed in January 2023.
Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for the Hudson River Railroad, the New York and Harlem Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad in what is now Midtown Manhattan. The Harlem Railroad was the first of these railroads to operate, having been incorporated in 1831. The railroad had been extended to Harlem, in upper Manhattan, by 1837. The first railroad structure of any kind on the modern-day site of Grand Central Terminal was a maintenance shed for the Harlem Railroad, built c. 1837 on the west side of Fourth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets.
Since the Harlem Railroad had the exclusive right to operate along the east side of Manhattan south of the Harlem River, it originally ran as a steam railroad on street level along Fourth (now Park) Avenue. After the passage of laws prohibiting steam trains in Lower Manhattan, the railroad's southern terminal was moved northward from 14th Street in Union Square to 26th Street near Madison Square. In 1857, the New Haven Railroad built a terminal adjacent to the Harlem Railroad's; their rail lines turned into a rail yard shared by both terminals, which was the beginning of the idea of a central terminal, shared by different rail companies. The building was later converted into the first Madison Square Garden.
The New Haven Railroad was chartered in 1849 and had trackage rights to operate on the Harlem Railroad's tracks from Wakefield, Bronx, to Manhattan. The Hudson River Railroad did not have any trackage rights with the Harlem Railroad, so it ran in Manhattan separately along what would become the West Side Line, terminating at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in what is now Hudson Yards. When the city banned steam trains below 42nd Street c. 1857–1858, the Harlem and New Haven Railroads' southern terminal was moved there. The Hudson River Railroad, meanwhile, was limited to the west side of Manhattan, away from the development that was concentrated on the east side.
The business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who operated steamboats along the Hudson River, started buying the Harlem Railroad's stock in 1863. By the next year, he also controlled the Hudson River Railroad. Vanderbilt attempted to get permission to merge the railroads in 1864, but Daniel Drew, a one-time competitor in the steamboat industry, bribed state legislators to scuttle the proposal. Drew unsuccessfully attempted to short-sell Harlem and New York Central stock, and Vanderbilt made large profits after buying stock in both companies. Vanderbilt became the president of the Hudson River and New York Central railroads in 1867, and merged them into the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad two years later, on November 1, 1869. He then built a connecting line along the Harlem River's northern and eastern bank, running from the Hudson River Railroad in Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx, to the junction with the Harlem Railroad in Mott Haven, Bronx, as part of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad.
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