Grand Central Terminal opened its doors to the public at midnight on February 1, 1913. Its first train left at 12:20 AM. The Centennial year celebration begins 100 years later on February 1, 2013, with a birthday party and historic exhibition that kicks off a year-long series of events.
The new Centennial logo (above, which also will become the Terminal's official logo) is designed by a team from the award-winning firm Pentagram, led by partner Michael Bierut.
The logo takes as its inspiration one of Grand Central's most well-known icons – the clock atop the main hall information booth. Its hands are positioned at 7:13, which is 19:13 in military time used by the railroad and a nod to the opening year.
Award-winning film director and Brooklyn resident Spike Lee, internationally renowned opera singer and Manhattan resident Jessye Norman, and attorney/author Caroline Kennedy, whose mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was instrumental in saving the Terminal in the 1970s, are among the Centennial Committee members who will lend their names and support to the celebrations.
Centennial events are being planned in four thematic areas: Rededication and Birthday Celebration; Preserving a Landmark, Creating a Legacy; Parade of Historic Trains/Transportation Month; and Grand Central: The Next 100 Years
The New York Transit Museum will curate five exhibitions throughout 2013 and will release a beautifully illustrated coffee-table-style Centennial book.
The Transit Museum and the Arts for Transit program will collaborate on a media exhibition inspired by Grand Central.
"Centennial Editions" of the Museum's annual Holiday Train Show and the popular Holiday Fair at Grand Central take place this November and December, as a lead-up to the 2013 kick-off.
The MTA will release a series of collectible, historically themed MetroCards throughout the Centennial year.
A special Grand Central Centennial website will launch in June 2012, with a full complement of Centennial activities.
