The main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad needed a relatively flat route to penetrate the Allegheny Mountains. To achieve this, large earthen bridges or embankments were built across two streambeds at the former Kittanning Point, which allowed the trains to curve 275 feet up the mountainside at the proper grade. Ultimately, the right-of-way of this engineering marvel was expanded to accommodate four tracks. A model of the curve was displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, increasing interest in the site to the point that in the first half of the twentieth century, the Horseshoe Curve was considered one of the engineering “Wonders of the World.” In 1940, the railroad gave permission to the city of Altoona to operate
You are here
Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark
1852–1854, J. Edgar Thomson, chief engineer; 1992 visitors' center, Richard Glance and Associates. Kittanning Point Rd., 3 miles west of Altoona
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.