During one of my recent visits to Gettysburg, I had an
opportunity to visit the Gettysburg Train Station. This is the
train station where President Lincoln arrived prior to giving
his famous speech. Here I am just outside of the station with a
bust of President Lincoln and near a plaque describing the
building. According to a nice volunteer at the station, I
learned that the station was built between 1858 and 1859 because
in 1857 the first passenger trains came into Gettysburg. The
original passenger station had two-stories with waiting rooms on
both floors. The rooms were separated so that women and children
would use one and men would use the other. There is also a
spiral staircase in the center of one of the rooms. Here are
some photos of a model of the original train station. You can
see how the outside looked and also the two waiting rooms.
During the battle, the train station was used as a field
hospital and the cupola was used as an observation point so
commanders could see what was happening during th