Fort Wayne, IN: NYC/LS&MS/FWJ&S Freight House

(Satellite) (Update: NYC coaling tower)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
Michael S Chandler The freight house was demolished on 10-11-10, with the wrecking crew arriving at 3am to begin work before historic preservationists could find out and try to stop it. The building was 97 years old. 

Jeff Landis posted, cropped
Mike Plummer Omnisource used the buildings and land. The city wants to sell and/or develope the entire property which means that the areas where the scrap yard sat would need cleaned up. I cant remember the actual numbers but it was a pricey estimate that drove potential investors away....
The building was actually registered as historical...
Douglas B Pritchett My family tried for years to buy the building to put in a restaurant. But the owners would only sell it with the land. In the end, the tore down he building so no one could use it.
Dennis DeBruler You can tell that it was a freight house because the two story part was the office that handled the paper work and the one story part handled the freight. Across from Lawton Park would make it the New York Central's freight house.
Nancy Parker I remember trucks loading and unloading there and the many tracks behind it.
Kyle Beatty I used to walk right 
by it on Clinton walking to the Civic Theater from from where I lived on Westbrook . That whole Block of houses that were razed because of the flood zone . I can remember trains right there even earlier . Loved that old building . Haunting . Harkening a bygone era . Even the old swimming pool in Lawton Park was filled in . Couldn't believe it when I saw that . I used to swim there when I was a little Kid . My Sister was a lifeguard there . At least they've kept that old building , which I believe is some kind of Science museum , on the Lawton Park side .
Sarah WrightSarah and 320 others joined Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Indiana within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! Looks like the Fort Wayne Railroad Society wants to put a roundhouse there. That'd be pretty awesome to see the 765 back downtown again. https://fortwaynerailroad.org/headwaters-junction/
Nancy Parker ST Joe hospital has expressed an interest ,and a hotel, waterpark has been proposed
Kyle Beatty Would ST . Joe still keep their Broadway location as well ?
Nancy Parker no,planning to build a new one
Elena Vaccaro I can remember when it was a freight terminal. We didn't live in Ft. Wayne, but came in for groceries and other shopping. I seem to remember crates of fruit and vegetables there with the rail cars on the west side and local trucks on the east backed in off Clinton.
Marilyn Krupa-Burns Old NYC railroad warehouse depot.
Larry DawsonLarry and 31 others joined Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Indiana within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! When the circus came to town they was on trains and would unload here. Lions and mean animals was in cages and the elephant was walked to the Coliseum.

[Comments on this post indicate that the owners tore it down because they were tired of getting hit with code violations. Then they quickly sold the land to the city before any contamination studies were done.]

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
Old Power Plant Fort Wayne Indiana probably late 1930's
[Note the NYC yard and freight house on the right.]

Richard Miranda commented on his post
Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/.../a.12394.../1469873823033085/...

Bella Zent: Richard Miranda they had to demo it at 2am because people kept protesting. They tore it down for nothing, it didn’t have damage and the spot it was in is still empty

You can see the NYC/Lake Shore and Michigan Railroad/Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw freight house in a 1951 aerial photo.

A closeup of the front entrance.

Matt Murphy commented on the posting
Almost cried that day I lived a cpl blocks away when they tore it down for no reason.. leave are history alone.

Photo from Jim Warner's Old Photo of Fort Wayne album (source)

Daniel Baker uploaded

Former freight depot for the New York Central Railroad located at Fourth and Clinton Streets in Fort Wayne. Built around 1913, the depot lay mostly vacant for the past 30 years under Omnisource, a recycling company.

 

In 2010, the depot became the focus of a grassroots effort to save it from demolition. The owners, Calhoun Investments, argued that the depot was structurally compromised and they were being mandated by the city to remove it. Preservationists countered it was a historically significant building and not as bad off as the owners made it seem.

 

In the early morning hours, after months of delay, the depot was razed or as one supporter called it, "Rikin-ized," after the responsible party's family name.

 

John Urbahns, Fort Wayne Director of Community Development was surprised the depot was demolished, especially since the city never had it inspected. Calhoun Investments later admitted that there was never an order mandated by the city to have it torn down: It just didn't make good business sense to hang on to the old building.

 

The depot has been gone nearly 4 years now.

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"Fighting to save depot," 5.21.2010

 

"Rifkin: All options have been exhausted for freight building," 10.11.2010

 

ARCH: Irreplaceable Fort Wayne landmark is being demolished," 10.11.2010

Daniel Baker uploaded

Daniel Baker uploaded