January 2026.
Station 67, once the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Station, is a bizarre train station by Columbus’s wacky Victorian firm Yost & Packard. It has a Japanese-inspired design with a highly unusual tower and roof, which is mixed with other design elements from various styles. Though using Japanese architecture as precedent in the United States most notably began with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School houses, it did occur during the Victorian era as well. Interestingly, it was also Yale dean and Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph’s favorite Columbus building.
Station 67 is located at 379 West Broad Street in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by Broad Street to the north, Capital Street to the south, the rapidly growing contemporary apartment/office buildings to the east, and the former Toledo & Ohio railroad tracks to the west.
History
Surprisingly, the NRHP listing for this one was kind of a letdown. It was extremely short and lacked even basic details such as the station’s architect. Most of this article’s sources come from scholarship at a later date.
The station c. 1905, along with the similarly eclectic Macklin Hotel, which was built earlier and since demolished. The station’s pagoda-style tower is clearly influenced by those on the Macklin Hotel. Also note the advertisement for Hoster beer. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
The Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad was established in 1882 from a merger of the Atlantic & Lake Erie Railroad and the Columbus, Ferrara, & Mineral Railroad, meant to reach the coal mining towns in southeastern Ohio. The railroad ran from Columbus to Toledo in northwestern Ohio. Though their trains formerly ran into Union Station downtown, they decided to build their own station. To counteract the lost business from leaving Union Station, the railroad hired architects Yost & Packard to design a station that would both be a landmark for the city of Columbus and showcase the talent of the architects. Their eclectic design incorporated elements of the Richardsonian Romanesque style most frequently, but the prominent pagoda-esque tower facing Broad Street was borrowed from the Macklin Hotel next door, which was built slightly earlier in 1893. The Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Station began construction in 1895 and opened on April 18, 1896. The tower had a clock installed a month later. By 1900, the railroad was purchased by its rival, the Hocking Valley Railroad.
View of the station from the opposite angle. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
An early modification to the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Station’s design was the elimination of its grade crossing due to heavy automobile traffic. In 1909, a new viaduct was built to carry the trains, and Broad Street was lowered to accommodate it. In terms of alterations to the station itself, the original shelter adjacent to the tracks was removed, and a ramp was built for passengers to reach the higher trains. Even at a decade old, it was proposed to demolish the station for a replacement that was level with the tracks.
A picture of the station after the Great Flood of 1913, with the high-water mark labeled. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
The building also faced multiple disasters early in its lifetime. In 1910, it suffered a major fire caused by faulty wiring that destroyed tickets and records and caused severe damage to the interior. Its spread was hampered by a derailed train that blocked traffic from the west, so Franklinton’s firemen from Engine House Nos. 6 and 10 were unable to reach it. When fire engines from the east side arrived, the water pressure was insufficient to extinguish the fire. In 1913, the station had its first floor submerged in the major flood that occurred.
Toledo & Ohio Central did not use the station for a long period of time, only about 35 years, and they returned to Union Station in 1930. (Bear in mind, the Union Station that they formerly used was built in 1873--the third Union Station building was not completed until 1897.) In 1931, the former station was purchased by Volunteers of America, who converted it to office space and used the waiting room as a banquet hall. They also built an addition next door, used as a thrift store, in 1942.
The station in 1973 as the Volunteers of America. (NRHP listing)
The Volunteers of America used the building steadily and left the interior mostly unaltered. During their tenancy, the Macklin Hotel was demolished (in 1955), the station flooded again (in 1957), and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (in 1973). However, another fire caused severe damage to the building in 1975, destroying the tile roof and the second floor. Luckily, the Volunteers of America completely restored it in 1978. However, they eventually moved out of the building in 2003. With the demolition of Union Station, the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Station is the only railroad station remaining in Columbus.
After the VOA’s departure, the city of Columbus owned the property, and they boarded up the windows in the interim. The Columbus Historical Society wanted to open a museum about Columbus’s history inside, but they could not afford to purchase the building and lacked other companies interested in leasing space inside. In 2007, the station was acquired by its current tenants, the International Association of Fire Fighters. They stipulated that the 1942 thrift store be demolished, but in return, they conducted a $2.5 million renovation and addition to the rear of the station building. The addition was designed by Moody Nolan and blends in well with the original design. The station remains in use by the IAFF, who have nicknamed it “Station 67” (after the local branch number).
Photos
Unfortunately, my photos of this one kind of suck. I was parked illegally on Starling Street and was anxious about getting a ticket/towed, so I was in and out. Although the sun was in the right position, I felt like most of these photos are shady regardless.
The masonry facade is very interesting--multiple shades of brick are used, and the corners have rougher stone blocks, making it look like the building was carved out of a huge boulder but left unpolished. The red clay tile roof matches the earth tones of the bricks, and besides the tower, there is a strong horizontal emphasis. It’s almost Craftsman or Prairie School in style.
I like this little octagonal tower here:
It has a widely overhanging roof with wooden corbels. The second floor’s windows are vaulted, and the first floor has massive stone lintels above its window openings.
I really like its contrast with the greenery here:
The famous tower:
It has four clover-like “leaves” that branch outward from the shaft of the tower, and there are rectangular openings that run upwards from about halfway up the tower. This design is unusual and very unlike the more common architecture of the period. A lot of Columbus’s architecture is pretty pedestrian for architecture professor standards (I see academic essays from professors and theorists using words like “unremarkable” very frequently), but Yost & Packard’s work is usually exceptional enough to receive wider notice.
Broad Street entrance, which has a porch:
This design is so bizarre for something built in 1896. The Victorian era had wonky architecture, sure, but this is on the very extreme end. Although it is lavishly decorated, the station’s signature effect is achieved through its architectural form, something that became more common with Modern architecture and later styles.
Despite only existing for four years following completion, the stone relief still reads “Ohio Central”:
Each eave of the roof is supported by a stone grotesque:
The entire east facade from across Starling Street:
This side is more straightforward, with a regular window pattern and an uninterrupted hipped roof.
Out-of-focus view of the tower roof and smaller tower from here:
This porte-cochere is a reproduction of an original design that was removed for the construction of the thrift store next door:
Moody Nolan’s addition:
This post is one that I look back on and wish I did better. I didn’t take many photos, none at all of architectural details/ornament, and I didn’t even cross Broad Street at any point. This especially stinks because this is one I was very excited to visit in person. With its private ownership, interior access also seemed difficult. Maybe if I get around to it I’ll end up revisiting.
Sources:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988457
https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-049-0046
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d000431044&view=1up&seq=276
https://columbusunderground.com/the-most-unusual-building-in-columbus-je1/
https://www.local67.com/station-67/
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/ohio/id/11847/rec/14
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/memory/id/11833/rec/12
https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/memory/id/4767
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_and_Ohio_Central_Railroad_Station
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