101 Lafayette Ave
Laurel, MD 20707, USA

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Laurel, 101 Lafayette Ave Laurel, Prince George`s County, MD

The Laurel B&O Station is significant as the only surviving railroad station in Prince George`s County, and an example of decorative Victorian-era railroad architecture. It was designed by Baltimore architect Francis E. Baldwin who was responsible for most of the B&O`s Maryland stations and two of its office buildings in Baltimore. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, one of the oldest in the nation, opened its Washington branch in 1835. The first and most important of three railways through Prince George`s County, it entered Prince George`s here in Laurel and continued in a southwesterly direction, carrying both freight and passengers, to Beltsville, College Park, Riverdale, Hyattsville and on to the District. The presence of the B&O in Laurel, as shown by this station, greatly affected its growth and prominence as a highly populated area of commerce, the industrial center of this agricultural county. The Laurel station is now the last of the old Washington Branch stations.