Grand Central Terminal

Homestalgia Archive

Community memory · 1913–today · Aug 7, 2026

Verified

Grand Central opened in 1913 after Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad electrified and buried its tracks, which allowed Park Avenue to be extended over the former open rail yard and enabled development above the tracks. The Main Concourse ceiling shows the Mediterranean winter sky — painted backwards. A small dark patch near Cancer was left unrestored in the 1990s to show the decades of tar and nicotine that had been cleaned off. In 1968 Penn Central proposed an office tower above the terminal; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis led the fight, and the Supreme Court upheld landmark protection in 1978.

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Grand Central Terminal history and restoration materials; New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Grand Central Terminal designation report (1967); U.S. Supreme Court, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978)