On May 12, 2020, Canadian Pacific Railway train 252-12 is seen crossing the Saranac River in Plattsburgh, New York, with a 2019 remanufactured locomotive from Progress Rail. The image captures not only the striking red modern image of Canadian Pacific, but also envelopes several key historic factors in the City of Plattsburgh. This crossing, not the bridge itself, but the railroad crossing location of the Saranac River, saw the first train roll from Montreal into Plattsburgh in 1852 under the Plattsburgh & Montreal Railroad. Having served freight and passenger rail for 168 years, today the line continues to provide the main gateway for traffic operating between Montreal and New York’s Capital District and beyond. Additionally iconic in the image is the Macdonough Monument, a 135-foot memorial commemorating the decisive victory of Commodore Thomas Macdonough in the Battle of Plattsburgh and Battle of Lake Champlain, the final naval engagement of the War of 1812. Beyond that is the Plattsburgh City Hall, the historic government building that was designed by architect John Russell Pope and constructed in 1917. It is a three-story, steel frame, limestone clad building in the Classical Revival style. It features a projecting entrance portico with six Doric order columns and a low central dome. If you feel like you’ve seen this building in Washington, D.C., you aren’t far off base. John Russell Pope was an American architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 1935), the Jefferson Memorial (completed in 1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (completed in 1941), all in Washington, DC, all of which replicate components of this structure in Plattsburgh. Notably, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1973.
