B&O RAILROAD STATION

The Parkersburg B&O train station in 1897.
Courtesy of Dan Kemper.

Looking west toward Green Street, the train station and Sixth Street in the 1930s. St. Xavier is on the right.

The B&O Railroad line from Baltimore arrived in Parkersburg in 1857, and until the railroad bridge--spanning from the corner of 6th & Avery Streets to the town of Belpre--was built over the Ohio River, the city was a terminal from which all supplies and passengers had to be taken across by ferry or steamboat to connect with the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. The 6th Street Station was built in 1883 and razed in 1973. The photo above, looking west in the 1950s, shows the station on the left, Avery Street in the near distance, and the tower of St. Francis Xavier on Market Street in the middle.

The station as it looked in the 1890s.

Men stand in front of the station in 1907.

Looking southeast from the corner of Sixth and Avery, around 1915.

Looking west on Sixth Street across the street from the train station in the early 1900s, you
can see where the tracks become elevated at Avery Street. The tall building was the
Van Winkle Hotel at the corner of Avery. It is now a beauty college
(Photo courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; (304) 485-5771.)

In this photo looking east, Parkersburgers gather at the station and on Sixth Street, possibly in 1917.

The Van Winkle Hotel stood at the northwest corner of Sixth and Avery.
It is now an office building and beauty college.
(Photo courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; (304) 485-5771.)

Shriners gather in front of the B&O station in the 1930s.

Looking east toward the station and Sixth Street from the top of the Avery Street Park-O-Loft in the 1950s.
The small brick building in the middle of the shot was the Amvets (American Veterana) Club at Sixth and Green.

Looking east on Sixth Street toward the corner of Avery: a train pulls out of the
station and enters the long approach to the bridge across the Ohio River.

Looking eastward in 1967 from the B&O Railroad bridge, Garfield Avenue is in the foreground, and Sixth Street runs east below the elevated tracks. The red building at the southwest corner of Ann Street is the Henry Logan Methodist Church. Prominent in the background are the Chancellor Hotel and the Union Trust Building at Seventh and Market, and the white spire of the First Baptist Church at Market and Ninth.

The overhead tracks on Sixth Street, 1940s. between Ann and Juliana.
(Photo courtesy of Ben Barnett.)

Standing east of Sixth and Green, you're looking west toward the last passenger train that stopped at Parkersburg, on the morning of May 5, 1973. On the left is the back of the first house in the 500 block of Sixth Street. Under construction is the United Bank Building at Fifth and Avery. You can also see the top of St. X.

A train sits at the station in 1940. The tower of Washington Junior High School at Seventh and Green is in the background.

Looking east from the corner of Sixth and Green streets, circa 1940.
(Photo courtesy of Dan Graham.)

J.M. McClinton's private railway car sits near Avery and Sixth in 1973, after returning from a party in the
eastern part of the state; the Chancellor Hotel at Market and Seventh stands in the background.

Looking west toward the station in 1973.

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