Hidden in brush and weeds is the now-vandalized marker that serves
to indicate the B&O's elegant Viaduct Hotel once stood on this spot.
The hotel opened in 1873, but the introduction of sleeper cars
as well as the Metropolitan Division (from Frederick to Washington,
DC) around that same time sigificantly reduced the need for a hotel
at this location. The Viaduct Hotel hung on for decades, was
converted into crew quarters, and then demolished around 1950.
The text on the marker had read: "Site of Old Relay Station and
Hotel - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad - Here, in 1830, passengers on
B&O horse-drawn cars stopped to eat at the Relay House. Meanwhile,
the relays of horses were changed for the remainder of the 13 mile
journey between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, hence the name
Relay. In 1835, a second station superseded the earlier one. In
1872, a large combination passenger station and hotel was erected
on this spot. It was razed in 1950. This stone is from that
building."
Links to older pictures:
1886,
1950,
~1976
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