The Pennsylvania Railroad Station on Baker Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana: The Story of Service & Survival

Description

It has taken a year to research the one hundred years of the Pennsylvania Railroad Stations on Baker Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The result of this effort can be summed up in the title of the book, “A Story of Service and Survival.”

Add to this work the photos and stories of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago depots which were used from 1860 to 1914. This sets the pattern of people’s stories related to the two depots that served the city of Fort Wayne and the Railroad.

The one hundred years of Baker Street Station were filled with hundreds of thousands of travelers passing through the depot during two world wars and other military activities. The troop trains were served by The Red Cross and the U.S.O. Canteens at the station.

The Liberty Bell paid a visit to the streets of Fort Wayne and the tracks at Baker Street on July 6, 1915. Thousands of people welcomed the bell to the city.

Over a period of seven years (1961-1967), the Wildcat Rail Trips took seven thousand Wildcat Kids go to major league games, leaving from Baker Street. There was also the visit of the Rexall Train, the longest streamlined train of its day in 1936.

The history of Baker Street is full of new, high speed steam locomotives. One ran 133 mph on a regular scheduled passenger train between Chicago and Fort Wayne in 1941.
Yet the greatest number of passengers were the everyday people who took shopping trips to Chicago or commuted to jobs outside the city. In addition to commuting and shopping, others traveled to college, took “Honeymoon” trips, visited family members or took vacation trips. These passengers were the ones who bought the tickets and filled the concourse day after day.
Times began to change, particularly after WW II, when soldiers returned home and bought cars, and states had begun building highways. The great fleets of passenger trains were reduced, and railroad stations like Baker Street became only shadows of the past.

Baker Street has been able to survive because of a few individuals who saw the possibilities in the station. Attractive office space and the beautiful concourse for public use offered a future.
Will passenger trains come back? Only time will tell, but the beautiful building of 1914 still serves people.