The construction of the Edessa railway station in 1894 persuaded the businessmen of neighbouring Naousa to invest in the city. Within a decade, the hydroelectric energy from the waterfalls turned Edessa into the industrial capital of Macedonia. The factory of Grigorios Tsitsis became the largest textile processing plant of the Ottoman Empire. In October 1918, on the feast day of St.Luke, in front of the entrance of the station, the Turkish mayor surrendered the city to the Greek army. The railway reduced the duration of a trip to Thessaloniki from three exhausting days of walking to a comfortable four-hour train ride. The two-storey station includes the stationmaster's residence on the first floor and the adjoining warehouse. An elegant tree-lined avenue joins the station to the city centre and the waterfalls. In the 1930s the railway station was declared the most beautiful in Greece.