A Line of Fires: A Railroad at War

The presence of The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in Martinsburg, West Virginia dates back to the 1840's when the first engine and machine shops were erected for the expanding company. When West Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1861, the regions social and government institutions were thrown in turmoil. The Civil War decimated the region, Martinsburg specifically, because  of the railroad yards. On May 22, 1861, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's troops stopped all trains going East from Martinsburg and Point of Rocks. Once he determined that all of the trains that had been caught, he blew up the bridges to the West and blew down the rocks onto the tracks to the East, and the pirating of the B&O Railroad was on. In total, 42 locomotives and 386 cars were stolen and destroyed. 36 1/2 miles of track, 17 bridges, 102 miles of telegraph wire, the Colonnade" Bridge. A second raid resulted in the ultimate destruction of the B&O roundhouse and machine shop buildings, which were rebuilt immediately after the War Between the States had ended. . ​ Martinsburg changed hand more than 50 times through-out the war, leaving this once-thriving community a desolate wasteland, unable to feed its inhabitants, much less export anything. Following the war in 1866, the B&O began reconstruction of the roundhouse and the associated shops that stand on the site today. They were completed in a span of six years, from 1866 to 1872. The facilities were used until the mid 1980's when all local operations were transferred to other locations and the complex remained vacant ever since. The facility played a significant role in the railroad and the City of Martinsburg. It was a major regional transportation node and one of the major employers of the region. ​ The history of the facility and the history of the city of Martinsburg and Berkeley County were intertwined in a number of ways. The railroads prosperity brought wealth to the region. Conversely, the decline of the railroad had a profound effect on the local economy in a cyclical manner. The loss of jobs resulted in further economical hardships. ​ The buildings are rare and outstanding examples of their types, designed by the engineers of the B&O. It is believed that all original design concepts were developed in-house by B&O and it also appears that there was a significant influence in the design from the visionary world of Willer-le-Duc, the pioneer French architect and theorist, as well as the work of Henri LaBrouste, who was responsible for the design of the Biblioteque National in Paris, construction between 1854 and 1872, the same periods as the B&O structures. ​ The B&O architects and engineers developed simple modular designs for cast iron components that could easily be executed in remote locations with readily available materials and components, such as bricks, wood trusses, and typical metal roofs. The designs were simple, precise, elegant and typical of the great structures of the industrial revolution which form followed function in clear ways. The architecture of those structures provided strong, visual clues as to how they were to be used. In their simplicity, they were, indeed, brilliant designs. The Martinsburg Roundhouse is the only iron framed roundhouse still standing in the world today.