Logan House on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, operated 1853-1927, torn down and replaced by a post office / “one of the most completely appointed hotels in the country.”
[Historical Marker](http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1CF):
> When the Pennsylvania Railroad was building its line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Altoona didn’t yet exist. PRR actually founded the town in 1849 as the location for its locomotive and car repair shops. There, the company built a complex of buildings to support the town, including the Logan House, which served as a logical stopping-off place for travelers.
>Construction on the Logan House began on July 6, 1852, the same year that PRR first ran trains from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Working under Thomas Burchinell, a PRR carpenter foreman, a crew of seventy-five men completed the massive 106-room hotel the following year.
…
> The hotel’s finest hour happened in almost complete secrecy. Nearly eighteen months into the Civil War, the Confederacy had won many decisive victories, Northern support for the war was weakening, and President Abraham Lincoln needed both moral and political support. To strengthen an embattled President Lincoln and coordinate Union war efforts, Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew Curtin convened the Conference for Governors of the Loyal States. With no reporters present and little press coverage afterward, fourteen governors gathered in Altoona for two days on September 24 and 25, 1862, just two days after Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation. There, the governors gave Lincoln a vote of confidence, and promised their support. “It was this conference–which more than any other thing,” the Altoona Mirror reported on its 50th anniversary, “strengthened Lincoln’s hands in the darkest hour of the war
sverdrupian says
[Christmas Dinner Menu, 1898](https://i.imgur.com/MzgpwZ5.jpg) [via](https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/a9fxne/ye_olde_tyme_christmas_dinner_logan_house_altoona/) r/VintageMenus.
[Historical Marker](http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1CF):
> When the Pennsylvania Railroad was building its line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Altoona didn’t yet exist. PRR actually founded the town in 1849 as the location for its locomotive and car repair shops. There, the company built a complex of buildings to support the town, including the Logan House, which served as a logical stopping-off place for travelers.
>Construction on the Logan House began on July 6, 1852, the same year that PRR first ran trains from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Working under Thomas Burchinell, a PRR carpenter foreman, a crew of seventy-five men completed the massive 106-room hotel the following year.
…
> The hotel’s finest hour happened in almost complete secrecy. Nearly eighteen months into the Civil War, the Confederacy had won many decisive victories, Northern support for the war was weakening, and President Abraham Lincoln needed both moral and political support. To strengthen an embattled President Lincoln and coordinate Union war efforts, Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew Curtin convened the Conference for Governors of the Loyal States. With no reporters present and little press coverage afterward, fourteen governors gathered in Altoona for two days on September 24 and 25, 1862, just two days after Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation. There, the governors gave Lincoln a vote of confidence, and promised their support. “It was this conference–which more than any other thing,” the Altoona Mirror reported on its 50th anniversary, “strengthened Lincoln’s hands in the darkest hour of the war