This Art Deco masterpiece was built to handle over 200 trains and 10,000 passengers daily, as well as 1,500 New York Central employees. It included shops, a restaurant, soda fountain, parking garage and all other services required for daily passenger operations. Although the Central Terminal had the misfortune to open mere months before the onset of the Great Depression, the building was extremely busy during its first two decades of operation, with no period busier than during World War II. Following the War, passenger rail travel fell precipitously as automobiles and air travel began to dominate. In 1955, the New York Central Railroad put the Buffalo Central Terminal on the market, though there was little demand to purchase such a large building. With the decline of passenger rail service, the New York Central mothballed much of the sprawling Buffalo Central Terminal and created a small station within a station to service the remaining passengers.
In 1968, the Terminal complex was absorbed into the Penn Central Railroad following the merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads. Penn Central continued to operate passenger trains from Buffalo Central Terminal until 1971, when Amtrak took over operations of the majority of intercity passenger rail service in the country. The final passenger train departed the Buffalo Central Terminal in October 1979, 50 years after this national landmark opened its doors.
For more information on the Buffalo Central Terminal visit: www.buffalocentralterminal
Celebrate the 90th Anniversary in style with our Gatsby Themed Dinner Dance!
Dress to impress and dance the night away!
Dinner, drinks, and dancing! Music provided by The Buffalo Dolls and Ladies First Jazz Big Band. Dancing by Ballroom and Beyond. Dinner provided by Pott’s Deli and Grille Polish and American restaurant. Join us as we take you on a Sentimental Journey through the decades of the Buffalo Central Terminal.
Tickets: $90 each and includes Dinner, Drinks, Dancing, Souvenir Photo and Parking. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket sale will be given to the Buffalo Central Terminal Restoration Project.
Purchase tickets: https://centralterminal90th.brownpapertickets.com/
Contact Donna DeLano-Kerr of The Buffalo Dolls at the following for more information:
thebuffalodolls@gmail.com – www.facebook.com/
This is a 21 and over event.
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1824801367823342/
