BALTIMORE — The South Baltimore Gateway Partnership will provide $1 million in funding for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum’s plan to restore its South Car Works Building and create open community space as part of the museum’s new master plan.
Restoration of the Car Works building, the oldest continuously operating railroad repair facility in the U.S. between 1869 and 1990, will make the structure the new entrance to the museum and reconfigure its campus flow to face Southwest Baltimore.
“We’re delighted to support this initiative, which knits the B&O Railroad Museum seamlessly into the neighborhood of Pigtown,” said Brad Rogers, the partnership’s executive director. “The museum is literally tearing down a wall and replacing it with a vital new public space. In doing so, it is also helping its many visitors to enjoy the food and shopping along Pigtown’s beautiful Main Street.”
Said Kris Hoellen, the museum’s executive director, “This funding from the Southwest Baltimore Gateway Partnership is particularly meaningful to us as we wanted to create a design that would be supported by the community. Our goal … is to help catalyze further investment in the community and to improve overall community quality of life. We are not aware of another cultural institution actively factoring community development into its campus plans to this extent.”
In June, the museum launched a $30 million capital campaign in preparation for the bicentennial of the B&O in 2027 with a $5 million gift from CSX Corp. to develop a new public space, the CSX Bicentennial Garden [see “CSX makes $5 million gift …,” Trains News Wire, June 8, 2023].
A very generous support from the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership to the hyper lucky Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün