PARKERSBURG B&O RAILROAD STATION

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

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.

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

Looking west on Sixth, across the street from the train station, in the early 1900s.
The large building was the Van Winkle Hotel. It is now a beauty college.
(Photo courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; (304) 485-5771.)

The Van Winkle Hotel stood at the northeast 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.)

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

The Ohio River Railroad station was built at the corner of Second and Ann Streets in 1884. The ORR ran north and south along the river, from Wheeling to Huntington. The station was torn down in the late 1960s.

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.

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