{"nrhp_refnum":"79002349","name":"Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Station","other_names":["California Public Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Water and Wood Sts","address_restricted":false,"city":"California","county":"Washington County","state":"PA","lat":40.06820451900006,"lon":-79.88904891199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story red brick railroad passenger station in California, Washington County, Pennsylvania, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad about 1910-12 on the west bank of the Monongahela River. It measures ninety-five by thirty-five feet and has a hipped tile roof.","why_significant":"The nomination describes it as a little-altered example of a small Pennsylvania Railroad depot from the early twentieth century. It notes the railroad's role in moving coal from the Washington County fields to Pittsburgh steel mills. Its later adaptive reuse as a public library is cited as helping preserve it after railroad ownership ended.","narrative":"Built about 1910-12 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, this one-story red brick passenger station stands in California, a community on the west bank of the Monongahela River about fifty rail miles from Pittsburgh. Its steeply pitched hipped roof has wide bracketed overhangs and is covered in heavy red tile. Stone facing frames the doors and windows, and a brick and stone chimney rises from the roof. The building was planned with a ticket office, restroom space, two waiting rooms and an eastern baggage room. It replaced an earlier wooden depot built after the railroad acquired the site in 1885. Its importance lies in its connection to the rail traffic that carried coal from the surrounding Washington County fields to the steel mills of Pittsburgh. The station is valued as a small early twentieth-century depot that has changed little apart from its 1958 heating and interior work, and it was later converted to library use.","period_of_significance":"1900-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Adaptively reused as a public library after railroad ownership; alterations in 1958 changed the heating system and interior fittings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.716341-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002349.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002349/be43f3351f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002349/be43f3351f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"VitaleBaby (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calpubliclib.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">VitaleBaby (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calpubliclib.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994883","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Area_Public_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5020222"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/washington-county/pennsylvania-railroad-passenger-station-79002349/"}