{"nrhp_refnum":"75001350","name":"Big Four Depot","other_names":["Galion Penn Central Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SE corner of Church and Washington Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Galion","county":"Crawford County","state":"OH","lat":40.73461270300004,"lon":-82.78384157399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-07-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half story railroad depot at the southeast corner of Church and Washington Streets in Galion, Crawford County, Ohio, dedicated in December 1900 as a division headquarters of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (the Big Four).","why_significant":"The depot served as headquarters for three Big Four divisions and was a stop for all trains, including New York to St. Louis service. Architecturally it is a large, elaborate hybrid of styles, possibly best labeled Queen Anne, and a striking example of turn-of-the-century railroad architecture. It also served as a whistle stop for presidential candidates.","narrative":"Galion's Big Four Depot is a two-and-a-half story railroad station at Church and Washington Streets, dedicated in December 1900. Its first story is rock-faced sandstone with smooth sandstone arches, while the upper story is banded in bevel, shiplap and shingle siding under a bellcast hip roof with several dormers. A long iron-columned canopy shelters the track side, though its southwest section was destroyed in a 1947 freight wreck. The building served as division headquarters for the Big Four Railroad, housing engineers, the division superintendent, the trainmaster and clerks. All trains stopped in Galion to change crews, and at peak use around World War I, 32 trains a day called there. Its size and decoration exceeded most small-town stations, and the form describes it as a hybrid, possibly Queen Anne, design. Presidential candidates including Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Nixon spoke from its platforms. Offices closed and the depot was vacated about 1969.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Homer Longstreth, stonemason","architectural_style":"Hybrid of many stylistic elements, possibly best labeled Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Railroad offices closed and the depot was vacated about 1969; condition listed as fair and altered; form checks unoccupied and not in use.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.214819-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001350.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001350/f04bf398f1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001350/f04bf398f1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"Rwcwalter at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_four_depot.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rwcwalter at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_four_depot.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987323","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galion_station_(New_York_Central_Railroad)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112648754"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/crawford-county/big-four-depot-75001350/"}