American Civil War

Train service to the depot was stopped when Jubal Early's Confederates burned the Rock Creek trestle on June 27, 1863.http://voicesofgettysburg.com/sarah/ The depot's telegrapher, a young daughter of "Mr. Lee (Brown Lee) in Washington Pa.", evacuated the station on the Battle of Gettysburg, First Day

Battle of Gettysburg, First Day

The First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War took place on July 1, 1863, and began as an engagement between isolated units of the Army of Northern Virginia under Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade...

 and "took the machine from the operating table [and] connected the wires so as to preserve the circuit intact and carried the instrument to Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill is a Gettysburg Battlefield landform which had 1863 military engagements each day of the July 1–3 Battle of Gettysburg. The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive "fish-hook" line, the hill is gently sloped and provided a site for American Civil War artillery...

" where, after instructing soldiers how to connect to the wires (e.g., along the Baltimore Pike), she used the key to relay Union Army information. The station was used as a hospital and soldiers used the station's cupola during the battle. A station east of the borough was established for Camp Letterman

Camp Letterman

Camp Letterman was an American Civil War military hospital near the Gettysburg Battlefield to treat more than 14,000 Union and 6,800 Confederate wounded of the Battle of Gettysburg....

 before rail traffic was restored to the depot on July 10,http://kevintrostle.com/GETTYSBURG_IN_THE_CIVIL_WAR.html and by the end of July, nearly 15,000 wounded troops had passed through the station via the twice-daily trains. A medical inspector of the Army arrived on July 8 and used the depot while "in immediate charge of the transportation of the wounded".

Gettysburg Address

For the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln arrived at 6:00 p.m. on the 18th and departed 24 hrs later having delivered the Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...

http://www.palincoln.org/the-historic-gettysburg-railroad-station/ (Lincoln walked along the station and not inside.)

Postbellum

Commercial telegraph service in the depot began in 1866, (L. D. Plank replaced Charles T. Rose as the 1902 Western Union Telegraph operator in the "W. U. office") and the station's railroad line became part of the successor lines: Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway

Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway

The Susquehanna, Gettysburg and Potomac Railway was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania in the 1870s. The 17 mile main line ran from Gettysburg to Hanover....

 (1870), Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad

Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad

The Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad was a railroad line in Pennsylvania in the 19th century. The 38 mile main line ran from Orrtanna to Hanover Junction where it connected with the Northern Central Railway...

 (1874), Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway

Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway

The Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway was a railroad that operated in Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 59 miles main line ran from Emory Grove, Maryland to Orrtanna, Pennsylvania, with a 6 miles branch from Valley Junction, Pennsylvania to Hanover Junction,...

 (1885), and Western Maryland Railroad (1917). The last passenger train departed the depot at 4:00 p.m. on December 31, 1942, when the depot's passenger service was discontinued.http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jKMlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VPwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5782%2C5020515 (scheduled Reading passenger service had ended in 1941).http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=32373 The depot was used until 1948 for administration of freight train

Freight train

A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars or goods wagons hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain...

s and telegraphy. On April 1, 1955, Western Maryland leased the building to the Gettysburg Travel Council (CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 owned the station in 1987).

Renovation

Following a 1996 meeting regarding the station's condition (the station was near collapse), renovation was funded. The Borough of Gettysburg acquired the property on May 6, 1998; the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors' Bureau vacated the depot in 2002; and renovation began in January 2005 (completed 2006). The Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was "pivotal in the grand re-opening of the Historic Gettysburg Train Station"http://www.gettysburg.edu/dotAsset/2242842.pdf on the 2006 anniversary of Lincoln's arrival. The borough approved a 2007 2nd floor lease for the Gettysburg International Arts Festival,http://www.gettysburg-pa.gov/minutes/borough_council/2007/040907.htm and the station has been operated by the National Trust for Historic Gettysburg since 2008.http://www.cumberlink.com/news/state-and-regional/article_5d9d3c1a-0eca-514a-a579-9b5321cec259.html In 2010, by Todd Platts failed in the US Senate for allowing Gettysburg National Military Park

Gettysburg National Military Park

The Gettysburg National Military Park is an administrative unit of the National Park Service's northeast region and a subunit of federal properties of Adams County, Pennsylvania, with the same name, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery...

acquisition of the depot.http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-111srpt330/html/CRPT-111srpt330.htm

Gettysburg railroad museum

Not to be confused with the Lincoln Train Museum

The depot's 1st floor is a museum with an information counter and is open daily (free) to the public. The museum contains models, diagrams, exhibits, and artifacts which were found during the renovation of the station.