Museum History - National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation

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*B&O No. 147 Thatcher Perkins on display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.*

National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation

The history of our museum stretches many years before its 1953 official opening, reaching back to at least the 1890s. The museum’s history is full of openings, fearful closings, glorious re-openings, and enlivening initiatives.

When reading this history, please remember that, until the museum became an independent nonprofit in 1990, its ups and downs mirrored those of the B&O Railroad Company itself. When the museum was prospering, so too was the financial and corporate health of the railroad — the reverse also was true.

Before the Beginning

It all started with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. American railroads, as the largest and most aggressive US industry at the time, committed to showing off their best in speeding locomotives and splendid passenger cars. The B&O Railroad, the country’s first common carrier railroad company, assigned Assistant Passenger Agent Joseph Pangborn to create a spectacular exhibit. At the close of the hugely successful exposition, it was expected that at least portions of the railroad exhibit would be placed under the care of Chicago’s newly formed Field Museum. However, the Field Museum quickly turned its interests instead to natural history, and much of the B&O equipment was returned to Baltimore where it languished in obscurity.

As the B&O began seriously planning the celebration of its 100th anniversary in 1927, interest in the “old trains” returned. Those plans produced the now famous 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse, a three-week railroad pageant in Halethorpe, Maryland. This grand event featured B&O rolling stock previously displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, original pieces of historic equipment and authentic replicas created specifically for the Fair, and visiting equipment from other railroads from America, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Following the grand event, much of the antique railroad technology remained in storage at the site until an August 1935 hurricane destroyed the fair buildings and damaged much of their contents.

The Museum Founding

*Excited visitors unload from buses at the newly opened museum, circa 1953.*

At this point, a long-serving B&O publicist, Lawrence Sagle, was charged with preserving what remained of the equipment and displays from the fair. He arranged to have everything moved to the 1875 roundhouse situated in the center of Bailey’s Wye, which was located under the Ostend Street Bridge (adjacent to M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore today). With this transfer, Sagle, who later became the first curator for the fledgling museum, managed to save much of the historic equipment from scrapping. School classes and railroad buffs could make appointments to see the displays at Bailey’s, but visiting was not ideal, as it required crossing active railroad lines and navigating a dingy building.

Aware of the B&O’s plan to abandon and demolish the Bailey’s roundhouse in 1953, Sagle moved all the equipment to a more suitable B&O building: the 1884 Baldwin Roundhouse, part of the Mt. Clare Shops located on Pratt Street (the current site of the museum). With this final move, Sagle’s guidance, and a good deal of perseverance, the B&O Railroad Company officially opened the B&O Transportation Museum at Mt. Clare on Thursday, July 2, 1953. The grand opening was attended by railroad officials, Governor McKeldin, and many Baltimore municipal leaders. From 1953 through 1990, the museum was managed by the B&O Railroad and its successor, the Chessie System.

The Early Years – Snapshot Under Railroad Leadership

1953: B&O Railroad opens the B&O Transportation Museum to the public under corporate leadership
1961: Designated as National Historic Landmark by the US Department of the Interior
1962: Sagle retired
1964: Marian Smith named Manager
1976: Museum changes its name to B&O Railroad Museum
1977-1980: Multi-year celebration of the B&O Railroad’s 150th Anniversary

Museum as an Independent Nonprofit Corporation

*Locomotives on display in the B&O Roundhouse as it appeared before the roof collapse in 2003.*

The CSX Corporation was established in 1980, when the Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line. The separation of the museum from its managing railroad companies was discussed as early as 1974, and the transition was approved by the CSX Board in November 1987. The B&O Railroad Museum’s first independent Board of Directors was established in 1989, and the Mt. Clare property was deeded to the newly established nonprofit in 1990.

Museum History Snapshot as a Nonprofit

1989: Smith retired; John Hankey named Chief Curator
1990: CSX Corporation funded the Research Library and Archives, named in honor of Hays T. Watkins
1991: John Ott named Executive Director
1999: Museum becomes one of the first affiliates of the Smithsonian Institution
2000: Courtney Wilson named Executive Director
2002: Opening of Fair of the Iron Horse 175 to celebrate B&O Railroad’s 175th anniversary
2003: Catastrophic collapse of the roundhouse roof and temporary closure
2004: Museum reopens to the public and decides to build a contemporary restoration shop to restore all damaged pieces of rolling stock from the roof collapse
2018: Kris Hoellen named Executive Director
2019: Jonathan Goldman named Chief Curator
2021: The B&O No. 51 is unveiled, fully restored. This marks the first significant piece of rolling stock restored in the restoration shop that was not impacted from the 2003 roof collapse.
2021: Museum designated as a National Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Site by the National Park Service
2026: Museum changes name to the National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation (NMRHI), begins large-scale campus transformation.
2027: The NMRHI celebrates the 200th Anniversary of American Railroading and the founding of the B&O Railroad with the unveiling of a new campus.