Martinsburg Roundhouse

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad first placed a steam locomotive in Martinsburg on May 21 1842 and ran the inaugural passenger train on November 10 1842, prompting the construction of the original roundhouse complex between 1848 and 1850. After the roundhouse and machine shops were destroyed during the Great Train Raid of 1861 and burned by Confederate troops on October 19 1862, the B&O rebuilt the present West and East Roundhouses, Bridge & Machine Shop, and Frog & Switch Shop from 1866 to 1872, creating what is now recognized as the oldest covered roundhouse in the United States. The site became the flashpoint of the nation‑wide Great Railroad Strike on July 16 1877, and it remained in active use until operations ceased on March 14 1988; a vandal fire on May 14 1990 damaged the East Roundhouse, leaving only its outer walls. Berkeley County purchased the property for $150,000 in February 1999, transferred it to the newly created Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority in April 2000, and the Authority was established by West Virginia legislation in 1999. The complex earned designation as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2001 and was listed as a National Historic Landmark on July 31 2003.