Canada Southern Railway Station

Canada Southern Railway Station
CASO Station

Southwest corner of the station
General information
Type Railway Station
Architectural style Italianate
Address 750 Talbot Street, St. Thomas, Ontario
Town or city St. Thomas, Ontario
Country Canada
Coordinates 42°46′40″N 81°11′10″W / 42.7779°N 81.1861°W / 42.7779; -81.1861Coordinates: 42°46′40″N 81°11′10″W / 42.7779°N 81.1861°W / 42.7779; -81.1861
Construction started 1871
Completed 1873
Cost $10,000 - 12,000
Owner North America Railway Hall of Fame
Technical details
Floor count 2
Lifts/elevators 1
Design and construction
Architect Edgar Berryman (1839-1905)
Designations Ontario Heritage Trust Plaque
Other information
Parking Yes, Free
Website
The North America Railway Hall of Fame: Canada Southern Station, Inductee Page

The Canada Southern Railway Station was not just one of the most unusual stations in Canada it was significant in railway history, especially to St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada and the Canada Southern Railway (CASO) .

Historically, the station was, at one time, one of the busiest train stations in Canada, headquarters to the Canada Southern Railway and is currently owned by, and home to the North America Railway Hall of Fame. Since the CASO Station was acquired by the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2005, the goal is to restore the station to its "illustrious state of the 1914-1925 eras" [1]

The proposed station

The Canada Southern Railway line ran from Detroit to Buffalo. It provided an efficient path for travelers who took the short route through southern Ontario. As the line grew, the town of St. Thomas, Ontario offered a $25,000 bonus to the Canada Southern Railway if the built their head offices within the borders of the town.[2] The Canada Southern acquiesced and the CASO station was built. As a direct result, the population of St. Thomas quadrupled in the span of not much more than a decade.

Architecture and design

Though it was one of 31 railway station built in Ontario during the 1870s, CASO was unique, in that it was designed in an Italianate style by Canadian architect Edgar Berryman (1839-1905,) and is thought to be the only station of that type in Canada. It is also the largest of them all. More common designs for major railway stations of the times included Romanesque, Beaux-Arts and Second Empire architectural styles.[3]

The building itself is 107.9 metres (354 feet) long and 10.9 metres (36 feet) wide. The station boast two stories – both with ceilings of approximately 5.5-6.1 metres (18–20 feet) featuring 164 arched windows. Its original 400,000 white brick construction was later painted red to suit the style of the day.[4] The original cost of the CASO station was estimated at between $10,000 - $12,000 dollars in 1873.[5]

Facilities

The Canada Southern Station did double duty. It became a busy “port of call” for numerous lines, while the second floor of the building was home to the Canadian head offices of the Canada Southern Line. Currently, much of the second floor is rented out and generates revenue to maintain the station.

Features of the restored Canada Southern Railway Station include the single men's waiting room, the ladies or family waiting room, ticket office, station master's office and mail room. The CASO station also had a large dining room, now renamed Anderson Hall, with a live-in staff of a cook and several lady servers. They lived in modest quarters upstairs, above the kitchen and dining room. The dining room was quite elegant and travelers could wire their menu orders ahead in time for their arrival.

A fire in 1925 severely damaged the kitchen and, combined with the advent of dining cars on passenger trains, the dining hall was relegated to more of a lunch room. By October 2005, with the restoration efforts at the station underway, the first meal in 80 years was served in the dining room – at a wedding reception.[6]

Since that time, The Canada Southern Railway Station (or the CASO station) is maintained in part by revenue from the rental of both Anderson Hall and the Ladies waiting room for weddings, wedding receptions, ceremonies, luncheons, dinners, teas, conferences and corporate events.[7]

Also located at the CASO Station were the Michigan Central Railroad car manufacturing shops. Also, it was here that master mechanic, Thomas William Cottrell helped establish the MCR shops as a regional repair shops for locomotives, rather than sending them to the United States for repair. (Cottrell was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006 for his contribution to the railway industry in the category of "Local: Railway Worker & Builder.")

Ontario Heritage Trust

The Ontario Heritage Trust Plaque presented June 17, 2011

As a non-profit agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Ontario Heritage Trusts' mandate is preserving Ontario's heritage resources. On June 17, 2011, the Ontario Heritage Trust, together with the North America Railway Hall of Fame acknowledged the Canada Southern Railway Stations valuable connection to our past by honouring it with a plaque. The plaque stands just outside the northwest corner of the station.[8]

The plaque reads

ST. THOMAS CANADA SOUTHERN RAILWAY STATION

The St. Thomas Canada Southern (CASO) Station, financed by American railway promoters, was constructed between 1871 and 1873 to serve as both the passenger station for St. Thomas and CASO’s corporate headquarters. During the 1920s, the station was one of the busiest in Canada. The Canada Southern rail route through southwestern Ontario ultimately linked Chicago and New York City, and was instrumental in the economic development and growth of St. Thomas. Designed in the Italianate style by Canadian architect Edgar Berryman (1839-1905), the impressive building is embellished with classical details such as pilasters, arched windows and passageways, wide eaves and a heavy cornice supported by paired brackets. The building’s design, scale and quality of interior finishes make it unique within Canadian architectural history and it stands as a symbol of the importance of railway development in southern Ontario.

Corporate ownership timeline

References

  1. ↑ North America Railway Hall of Fame and the Canada Southern Railway Station Information Package (February 2013)
  2. ↑ The North America Railway Hall of Fame | History: The Canada Southern Railway
  3. ↑ Robert Hunter, “Former Canada Southern Railway Station,” (Hull, QC: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Railway Station Report, ca. 1890)
  4. ↑ North America Railway Hall of Fame | Inductee: Canada Southern Station
  5. ↑ Padden, Wayne (August 30, 2013). Interview with Doug Jeffery & George Riman. St. Thomas, Ontario. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ North America Railway Hall of Fame (Policy Manual; Section One: Introduction to NARHF)
  7. ↑ Martin, Linda (August 23, 2013). Interview with Doug Jeffery. St. Thomas, Ontario. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ The Ontario Heritage Trust | Online article: St. Thomas Canada Southern Railway Station

Resources

External links

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