| In 1873, the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) was first chartered and in 1877, construction began on a rail line connecting Pittsburgh to Youngstown. In 1879, the P&LE officially opened for commercial traffic and later became known as the Little Giant for the amount of tonnage that it moved. After World War II, air and motor traffic in America began to make considerable inroads into the railroad passenger business. By 1970, railroad passenger traffic had all but disappeared. The great railway complex, covering over forty acres and containing, besides the huge terminal, an extensive freight station, a seven story warehouse, an express house and several minor buildings was in danger of becoming a commercial cemetery. In 1976, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation developed the site as a mixed-use historic adaptive reuse development that gave the foundation the opportunity to put its urban planning principles into practice. The property was adapted for new uses: a hotel was added along with a dock to house the Gateway Clipper fleet and parking areas.
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