Thousands of people lined Washington Street as the last train through downtown Syracuse made its way past City Hall, which is still here, and the Yates Hotel, which is not.įrom newspaper headlines of the day, Bob Searing describes the scene. But… it was first discussed in the 1870’s and it isn’t until 1936 that it’s actually completed.” “It was incredibly dangerous, and as those locomotives got bigger and they got faster and the population got bigger, people were getting injured, people were getting killed,” says OHA Curator of History Bob Searing. The Onondaga Historical Association estimates that investment equates to more than $335 million today. That’s when the last locomotive rumbled through downtown streets, and trains were re-routed over elevated tracks to a new $17 million station along Erie Boulevard East. The city planned a jubilee celebration 85 years ago, on the weekend of September 24, 1936. “For more than two centuries, Syracuse has been known as the city where the trains pass through the heart of the town,” he said. (WSYR-TV) - Former Syracuse mayor Rolland Marvin invited people to the big event, in a newsreel that played in theaters far and wide.
