the oldest brick railroad station still in use in the United States. Completed in 1865, the Gothic Revival railroad station answered the needs of hungry, weary rail passengers traveling between New York and Chicago, an often bone-jarring trip lasting 36 hours or more. The Starrucca House welcomed its guests with sumptuous meals and comfortable hotel rooms. The development of the dining and sleeping cars after the Civil War spelled doom for the great railroad hotels. However, the Starrucca House still operated as a passenger station, railroad office, and "bunkroom" hotel for railroad work crews. It closed in 1969 and was largely neglected until 1980 when it was purchased privately for restoration. Listed by the National Register of Historic Places, the Starrucca House is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as an "outstanding architectural work" and by the Society of Industrial Archaeology as "unique as a station hotel--because it may be the only Gothic Revival to remain." |
