Early Days
The Anhalter Bahnhof was the Berlin terminus of a line begun on 15 April 1839, opened on 1 July 1841 as far as Jüterbog (the inaugural train being hauled by the very first Borsig locomotive), and extended to Dessau, Köthen and beyond at later dates. Passing through the historical state of Anhalt, it became known as the "Anhalt line" and this in turn gave the Berlin terminus its name. It quickly developed into a network that carried train services to and from Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main and Munich. Like the nearby Potsdamer Bahnhof, the Anhalter Bahnhof started out as a fairly modest affair (behind an imposing administration block, the platform area was a mere 15 m wide), but both would go on to much bigger and better things in later years to cope with growing traffic, the Anhalter Bahnhof destined to be Berlin's biggest and finest station.
The front facade faced Askanischer Platz, which was basically a widened section of a street that at that time was known as Hirschelstraße (later Königgrätzer Straße, Stresemannstraße, Saarlandstraße and today back again to Stresemannstraße), then a fairly ramshackle thoroughfare linking Askanischer Platz with Potsdamer Platz (and the Potsdamer Bahnhof), and with Berlin's old customs or excise wall (German: Akzisemauer) running down its centre. At the time of the Anhalter Bahnhof's construction there was no opening in the customs wall at this location, and so one was clearly needed so that travellers could get from city to station and vice versa. And so the Anhalter Gate was created in 1839-40, and bore a strong resemblance to architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Potsdam Gate up the road. A new thoroughfare, Anhalter Straße, led from the gate into the city. The Anhalter Gate was one of four extra ones provided in the years after the customs wall's original erection, increasing the total number of gates around the city from 14 to 18. The customs wall eventually became redundant and was demolished in 1866-67, which allowed Hirschelstraße (newly renamed Königgrätzer Straße), to be developed into a proper street for the first time.
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