The Ohio Legislature incorporated the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula Railroad Company on February 8, 1848, and the railroad reached Painesville in 1851 with track and a depot. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived in Painesville on February 16, 1861, on his way to his inauguration in Washington, DC. In March 1869, the Lake Shore Railroad Company replaced the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula Railroad Company, followed in June by consolidation with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company. Replacing the original 1851 depot, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway built the present station in 1893. Its Richardson Romanesque style architecture, sandstone walls, slate roof, red oak and marble interior, and hanging chandeliers made it considered the jewel of Painesville. In 1914, Lake Shore merged with ten others to form the New York Central System. In 1971, the last passenger train left the Painesville yard, ending nearly 100 years of passenger rail service.