The History Channel has a national campaign, entitled Save Our History, dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Grand Central Terminal is a great example of a Save Our History initiative, demonstrating the importance of preservation efforts and presenting an intriguing history for students. This majestic station remains one of the most beautiful buildings in New York City. Its elegant, simple design has provided many designers and engineers with a model that emphasizes functionality and form; beauty that meshes with practicality. Nearing the end of a ten-year renovation, Grand Central Station is being returned to its original splendor and grandeur. The world's most elegant train station once again proves that function alone does not make a monument or an icon.

Vocabulary

• opulence
• icon
• transcends
• eradicate
• prodigious
• kiosk
• prototype
• indelible
• excavation
• awestruck
• infamous
• manipulated
• ruthless
• logistics
• ostentation
• consolidate
• egocentric
• illumination
• adjacent
• obliterate

Discussion Questions

1. Grand Central Station revolutionized urban train travel. How did it do this? What changes did the station make in train travel?
2. Commodore Vanderbilt built the original Grand Central Station in the 1880s. Discuss how the opulence of the original Grand Central Station, and its successor, are indicative of the era known as "the gilded age."
3. Discuss the merits of the engineering and functionality of Grand Central Station. Why has this design worked so well? Why has it been a model for later generations of terminals, especially airports?
4. The early trains that used Grand Central Station were powered by steam instead of electricity. What were some of the dangers steam power posed?
5. Throughout the years following World War II, some have argued to tear down Grand Central Station. Why have some people wanted to see the station demolished? What would New York lose if it lost Grand Central Station?
6. Why did Cornelius Vanderbilt build Grand Central Station?
7. Much of the revenue that Grand Central station has generated is due to "air rights." Discuss the concept of "air rights." How do air rights translate into dollars and cents?
8. The West Side of the original Grand Central Station faced the mansions of the rich along New York's Fifth Avenue, and was a beautiful, grand façade. The East Side faced the homes of the poor and was where the trains entered and exited the station. Discuss the class implications in the eastern and western views of the original Grand Central Station.
9. Who do the statues atop Grand Central Station portray? Why were these figures chosen? What do they represent?
10. Discuss how Grand Central Station is a merger of art, design, architecture and technology.
11. Describe the "golden age" of rail travel.
12. Why did rail travel decline after World War II?

Extended Activities

1. Create an advertisement for the grand opening of Grand Central Station.
2. Write a short story in which Grand Central Station is the setting.
3. Using Grand Central station as a setting, create a poster illustrating train travelers from different decades of the twentieth century. How would you highlight each era?