19. Eagle Head Remnant
This remnant of an eagle head appeared in the exhibit “Saving Place: 50 Years of NYC Landmarks” at the Museum of the City of New York. It ended up in the private collection of a family in Poughkeepsie, taken home by a mechanic at the railroad during the demolition. Dave Morrison, resident Penn Station eagle expert, confirmed its origin and the eagle was temporarily on display at the Transit Museum’s Grand Central Annex in 2011 for the exhibit “The Once and Future Penn Station.
The above eagles are mostly what remains of the “large” eagles on Penn Station. There were also eight smaller eagles, two of which are located in Ringwood, New Jersey (shown above). The famous Night and Day clock sculpture with two smaller eagles, is now the Eagle Scout Fountain in Kansas City, Missouri. Other remnants of Penn Station are scattered throughout New Jersey and New York. In a New York Times article, Alexandros Washburn, then the President of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation and former director of urban design and the NYC Department of City Planning, spoke of the continuing lore of Penn Station:
”People–not governments or corporations or institutions–have been keeping the memory of Penn Station alive for 35 years. We’ve found threads from the fabric of Penn Station stretching across the country. Few buildings can inspire that continuum. It makes you want to reweave those threads.”
Join our next tour of the Remnants of Penn Station to uncover more of what’s left of the original station and find out what’s in store for the future of Penn:
Remnants of Penn Station
Next, discover the Top 10 Secrets of Grand Central Terminal and see photos of the demolition of Pennsylvania Station. Get in touch with the author @untappedmich.
