History of the Nickel Plate Road | Vintage Promotional Film Series posted March 26, 2020 by Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society on YouTube The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly known as The Nickel Plate Road, was known for its "High Speed Service" and was the last major railroad to reach Fort Wayne, connecting it to Chicago and countless small towns along the way. Built largely on top of the Wabash & Erie Canal, Fort Wayne was a major terminal and a city which the railroad served with "quiet pride." Its railroad elevation project also dramatically changed the landscape of city development and later merged with the Wabash and Norfolk & Western Railway in 1964. Today, the Nickel Plate's former line is owned and operated by Norfolk Southern. The Nickel Plate Story, a vintage promotional film produced by the company, showcases the railroad at its height in the post-war era. As the film states, "From Buffalo to Chicago, from Cleveland to St. Louis and Peoria, and such cities as Ashtabula, Erie, Massillon, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Zanesville, Kokomo, place names that spell America. As dyed in the wool Yankee as corn on the cob. the world cities and the hoe-down square dance on Saturday Night...Today the Nickel Plate Road is inseparably a part of the territory it serves, integrated into the pattern of its industry, its agriculture, its way of life."
In 1880, the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, known commonly as the Nickel Plate Road”, purchased from the Wabash & Erie Canal the right-of-way through central Fort Wayne. The construction of the railroad on the site of the old canal took place from 1881 to 1882, when William H. Vanderbilt purchased the system.
While the Nickel Plate put Fort Wayne on another major east-west trunk line, the railroad also divided the city, discouraging growth on the north side. The call to “Elevate the Nickel Plate” became a community issue throughout the first half of the twentieth century. In 1947, Mayor Harry Baals signed an agreement with the railroad to elevate the track, but it was not until 1953 that ground was broken for the project. Temporary tracks were laid and construction of the elevation itself began on August 27, 1954; the project was completed on July 29, 1956, inaugurating an era of expansion to the north of the city.
These photos are from our Nickel Plate Road Collection in our Community Album. They contain pictures of the elevation of the Nickel Plate Road (now the Norfolk & Southern) from the opening of the bids and groundbreaking (December 15, 1953) to the dedication (October 4, 1955). All photographs were taken by Sgt. Ellsworth Crick, photographer for the Fort Wayne Police Department, and were the official recording of the progress of the project.
To the delight of those on the south side of Fort Wayne, the side by side Wabash and Pennsylvania railroad tracks running parallel to Baker Street through downtown were elevated during 1911 - 1913. This eliminated the street level bottlenecks on a number of thoroughfares from Hanna Street to Fairfield Avenue. While this opened the south part of town to ease of access and increased development, the Nickel Plate tracks situated between Columbia and Superior streets would continue to create a hindrance to north side development for another 40+ years.
By the 1940’s reportedly 51 trains every day came through downtown at street level on the Nickel Plate tracks, resulting in delaying an unbelievable 50,000 vehicles daily. For years, one mayor to the next heard from the constituents the cry “No More Wait – Let’s Elevate The Nickel Plate!”
While it had been in the works for a number of years, it was during the administration of Mayor Harold W. Baals that the final agreement was made. This precipitated a grand speaker’s platform and groundbreaking at Ewing Street (which crossed the tracks in those days) on December 14, 1953 with the mayor turning the first shovel of dirt for the $8 million project.
Construction didn’t actually began until the next year (1954) and while the dedication for its completion was held on October 4, 1955, in actuality, at that point only one of the two tracks on the new elevation had been laid and total completion wouldn’t occur until 1956. For the dedication, about 350 officials and invited guests boarded the 12-coach train led by the old No. 767 steam engine at the Fulton Street Crossing (behind Henry’s restaurant). The “dedication” train then made the trip east to the new elevated Calhoun Street passenger loading platform where they disembarked for the speeches and a ribbon breaking by forward movement of the train’s engine.
The $8 million elevation ended up costing about $9 million and entailed building overhead train crossings at seven downtown streets from Coombs Street to Fairfield Avenue. In 1964 the Nickel Plate merged with several other Midwestern railroads and became the Norfolk & Western. That combine then merged with the Southern Railway in 1982 becoming Norfolk Southern Railway. Today the Norfolk Southern has over 19,000 miles of track connecting 22 states and its Fort Wayne Division employs over 400 people.
This wonderful image was captured in December 1954 by Sgt. Ellsworth Crick, photographer for the Fort Wayne Police Department. Crick took the image from an elevated position at Harrison Street and is looking east. At lower center is the temporary track (later removed) that was laid next to the new concrete piers so that the Nickel Plate trains could still traverse Fort Wayne during construction.
At extreme upper left is part of the Wayne Paper Box Co. at Superior and Calhoun, currently being converted to the Superior Lofts apartment project. Across the intersection to its east now stands the Allen County Justice Center and County Jail. On the southeast corner of this intersection and facing us is the original Trolly (British spelling was used) Bar restaurant, now a vacant lot. Behind and above the restaurant can be seen the gas holder in what is now Don Hall’s Old Gas House parking lot. The large dark building at upper right of center is the grocery wholesaler G. E. Bursley at the southeast corner of Superior and Clinton. The Bursley building is still standing and is now home to A Party Apart party and tent rentals.
October 11, 1922 The Ft. Wayne Union Railway is incorporated to serve the International Harvester plant on the east side of Ft. Wayne. It is jointly owned by the Pennsylvania, Nickel Plate, New York Central and Wabash railroads, each with a 25% share in the new company. Copied from FT WAYNE UNION RAILWAY by Penney Vanderbilt on October 21, 2013 on her WordPress blog.
For “Throwback Thursday” we share this Panoramic Map of Fort Wayne made in 1943 by A.K. Hofer for the NICKEL PLATE REROUTING ASSOCIATION! How cool is that?
PENNEY VANDERBILT AND KC JONES: ALL ABOUT RAILROADS All About the New York Central Railroad and Others Like The D&H, Lackawanna, The Lehigh Valley, The New Haven Railroad, New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, South Shore Line and other great railroads.
