Union Station (St. Louis)

"Saint Louis Station" redirects here. For a train station in Saint-Louis, France, see Saint-Louis station. For a rapid transit station in Bangkok, Thailand, see Saint Louis BTS station.

St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day in the 1940s.^[3] The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.

St. Louis Union Station
Main facade and plaza featuring Carl Milles' fountain sculpture Meeting of the Waters
General information
Location	1820 Market Street St. Louis, Missouri
Owned by	Lodging Hospitality Management
Platforms	3 island platforms
Tracks	4 (used for excursions)
Connections	Red   Blue  MetroBus Missouri: 11 At MetroLink station
Construction
Parking	Yes
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	1894
Closed	1978
Rebuilt	1985 (mall) 2019 (aquarium)
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Kirkwood toward Kansas City National Limited Effingham toward New York or Washington, D.C. Poplar Bluff toward Laredo or Houston Inter-American Alton toward Chicago Kirkwood toward Kansas City Ann Rutledge Terminus State House Preceding station Alton Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Granite City toward Chicago Washington Av toward Kansas City Kansas City – St. Louis Terminus Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station Terminus St. Louis Line East St. Louis toward Cumberland Preceding station Burlington Route Following station Washington Avenue toward Burlington Burlington – St. Louis Terminus Terminus St. Louis – Savanna Washington Avenue toward Savanna Louisiana, MO toward Kansas City Kansas City – St. Louis Terminus Old Monroe toward Kansas City Kansas City – St. Louis Shortline Preceding station Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Following station Terminus Chicago – St. Louis Washington Avenue toward Chicago Preceding station Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Washington Avenue toward Peoria Preceding station Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Following station Vandeventer toward Kansas City Kansas City – St. Louis Terminus Preceding station Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line East St. Louis toward Mobile Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station Terminus St. Louis – Gilman East St. Louis toward Gilman St. Louis – Carbondale East St. Louis toward Carbondale Preceding station Louisville and Nashville Railroad Following station Terminus St. Louis – Nashville Washington Avenue toward Nashville St. Louis – Louisville Washington Avenue toward Louisville Preceding station Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad Following station Machens toward Galveston Main Line Terminus Preceding station Missouri Pacific Railroad Following station Tower Grove toward Kansas City Main Line Terminus Tower Grove toward Texarkana Texarkana – St. Louis Tower Grove toward Memphis St. Louis – Memphis Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station Terminus Big Four Route Main Line Terre Haute toward Cleveland East St. Louis toward Cleveland Preceding station Nickel Plate Road Following station Terminus St. Louis – Toledo East St. Louis toward Toledo Cleveland – St. Louis East St. Louis toward Cleveland Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Terminus St. Louis – Columbus East St. Louis toward Columbus Preceding station St. Louis–San Francisco Railway Following station Tower Grove toward Oklahoma City Main Line Terminus Tower Grove toward Memphis Memphis – St. Louis Preceding station St. Louis Southwestern Railway Following station Valley Junction toward Gatesville Main Line Terminus Preceding station Southern Railway Following station Terminus St. Louis – Danville East St. Louis toward Danville Preceding station Wabash Railroad Following station Vandeventer toward Kansas City Main Line Washington Avenue toward Chicago Terminus St. Louis – Detroit Washington Avenue toward Detroit Vandeventer toward Omaha Omaha – St. Louis Terminus
St. Louis Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
St. Louis Landmark
Coordinates	38°37′40.9″N 90°12′28.34″W / 38.628028°N 90.2078722°W / 38.628028; -90.2078722
Built	1892–94
Architect	Theodore Link
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.	70000888^[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 15, 1970
Designated NHL	December 30, 1970^[2]

In the 1980s, it was renovated as a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex. The 2010s and 2020s saw more renovation and expansion of entertainment and office capacity. The current hotel portion of the station is currently a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[4]

An adjacent station serves the light-rail MetroLink Red and Blue Lines, which run under the station in the Union Station subway tunnel. The city's intercity train station sits a quarter-mile to the south, serving MetroLink, Amtrak, and Greyhound Bus.

History

19th century

 

Union Station was the largest and busiest train station in the world in 1894.

 

Original track layout

The station was opened on September 1, 1894, by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. The station was designed by Theodore Link, and included three main areas: the Headhouse and the Midway, and the 11.5-acre (47,000 m²) Train Shed designed by civil engineer George H. Pegram.^[5] The headhouse originally housed a hotel, a restaurant, passenger waiting rooms and railroad ticketing offices. It featured a gold-leafed Grand Hall, Romanesque arches, a 65-foot (20 m) barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows. The clock tower is 230 feet (70 m) high.^[6]

Union Station's headhouse and midway are constructed of Indiana limestone and initially included 32 tracks under its vast trainshed terminating in the stub-end terminal. Its Grand Hall, which cost around $6.5 million and was about 75 by 125 feet large, was considered to be one of the most beautiful public lobbies.^{[citation needed]}

At its opening, it was the world's largest and busiest railroad station and its trainshed was the largest roof span in the world.^{[citation needed]}

20th century

In 1903, Union Station was expanded to accommodate visitors to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.^[7] In the 1920s, it remained the largest American railroad terminal.^[8]

At its height, the station combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads, the most of any single terminal in the world. In the 1940s, it handled 100,000 passengers a day.^[3] The famous photograph of Harry S. Truman holding aloft the erroneous Chicago Tribune headline, "Dewey Defeats Truman", was shot at the station as Truman headed back to Washington, D.C., from Independence, Missouri, after the 1948 Presidential election.

The 1940s expansion added a new ticket counter designed as a half-circle and a mural by Louis Grell could be found atop the customer waiting area which depicted the history of St. Louis with an old fashion steam engine, two large steamboats and the Eads Bridge in the background.

As airliners became the primary mode of long-distance travel and railroad passenger services declined in the 1950s and 1960s, the massive station became obsolete and too expensive to maintain for its original purpose. By 1961, several tracks had been paved over for parking. Amtrak took over passenger service in 1971, but abandoned Union Station on October 31, 1978. By then, Amtrak had cut back service to four routes per day–the State House, the Ann Rutledge, the National Limited (formerly the Spirit of St. Louis) and the Inter-American. The eight total trains were nowhere near enough to justify the use of such a large facility. The last train to leave Union Station was a Chicago-bound Inter-American. Passenger service shifted to a temporary-style "Amshack" two blocks east. Amtrak has since moved its St. Louis service to the Gateway Transportation Center, one block east of Union Station.^[7][9]

The station was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, as an important surviving example of large-scale railroad architecture from the late 19th century.^[10] It was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1981.^[11]

In August 1985, after a $150 million renovation designed by HOK, Union Station was reopened with a 539-room hotel, shopping mall, restaurants and food court. Federal historic rehabilitation tax credits were used to transform Union Station into one of the city's most visited attractions. The station rehabilitation by Conrad Schmitt Studios^[12] remains one of the largest adaptive re-use projects in the United States. The hotel is housed in the headhouse and part of the train shed, which also houses a lake and shopping, entertainment and dining establishments. Omni Hotels was the original hotel operator, followed by Hyatt Regency Hotel chain and Marriott Hotels.

21st century

 

St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station Entrance South Trainshed

 

The St. Louis Wheel at Union Station

In 2010–11, the station's Marriott Hotel in the main terminal building was expanded. It took over the station's Midway area; all stores were moved to the train shed shopping arcade. In 2012, Lodging Hospitality Management bought Union Station and rebranded the hotel as a DoubleTree.^[13] In August 2016, Lodging Hospitality Management announced plans to renovate Union Station once again, included plans for an aquarium. The Memories Museum features artifacts and displays about the history of St. Louis Union Station and rail travel in the United States.^[14] Located on the upper level of the train shed, the museum is a joint project of Union Station Associates and the National Museum of Transportation. The original architectural drawings and blueprints for Union Station and the original hotel are available to researchers at the Washington University Archives at Washington University in St. Louis.^[15] Some architectural elements from the building have been removed in renovations and taken to the Sauget, Illinois, storage site of the National Building Arts Center.^[16]

St. Louis Union Station was the venue for the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship component of the FIRST Championship, hosted in St. Louis every April until 2017, after which it was moved to Detroit.

Today, the station is home to the St. Louis Aquarium. At 120,000 square feet, the aquarium is home to more than 13,000 animals representing over 250 species.

The station's train shed area features The St. Louis Wheel, a 200-foot-high, 42 gondola observation wheel.

Inside the station is The St. Louis Rope Course, a 90,000 cubic foot, 3-story indoor ropes and zip line course.

Union Station has two light show features: one in the train shed area, and another inside Union Station Hotel's lobby.

In January 2020, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. moved their global headquarters to downtown St. Louis inside the 68,000-square-foot Grand Central Building inside the Union Station complex. The company also opened their new Build-A-Bear Workshop Union Station headquarters store and also operates a Build-A-Bear Radio studio and other experiential elements at their new headquarters. Additionally, a ferris wheel, aquarium, and an abundance of restaurants have been added to Union Station in 2020.

Transportation

 

MetroLink (subway/rail)

Main article: Union Station (MetroLink)

MetroLink, the St. Louis rail mass transit system, serves Union Station from its station directly below the trainshed in the Union Station subway tunnel. The St. Louis Union Station serves the Red Line and Blue Line.

It takes about 30 minutes to travel to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport's East and Main Terminals via the Metro Red Line.

MegaBus service

Megabus previously provided express intercity bus service to Memphis, Tennessee, Kansas City, Missouri and Chicago from Union Station. Megabus moved to the Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center in December, 2014.

Taxi and rideshare

St. Louis Union Station has 24-hour taxi service at its north entrance on Market Street.

Gateway Transportation Station

The city's major transportation hub station, Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center is located next to Union Station. It serves the city's rail system and regional bus system MetroBus, Greyhound, Amtrak and city taxi services.

Filming

In 1981, the disused Grand Hall was used in John Carpenter's movie Escape from New York, during the film's gladiatorial fight.

Gallery

•  

  Union Station about 1909

•  

  Grand Hall, from a postcard mailed in 1909

•  

  Grand Hall in 2007

•  

  The station now serves as a hotel and shopping complex

•  

  A Red Line MetroLink train leaves Union Station

See also

• List of railway stations

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. . National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
3. Holmes, M. Patricia (January 28, 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: St. Louis Union Station" (PDF). Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
4. "Hotel History – St. Louis Union Station, Curio Collection by Hilton". Historic Hotels of America. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
5. "About – St. Louis Union Station". St. Louis Union Station. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
6. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2020-02-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. "Historic Station At End Of Line". Toledo Blade. November 1, 1978. Retrieved 2010-04-25. The source says there were three daily trains when there were actually four.
8. "Union Station, 1820 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri / The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE". nps.gov. January 8, 1971. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
9. . Riverfront Times. 2008-12-04. Archived from the original on 2015-08-11. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
10. (PDF). Missouri DNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
11. "Union Station Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
12. Artisans here put skills to work restoring St. Louis train station – The Milwaukee Sentinel – Aug 29, 1985
13. Trains could return to St. Louis Union Station
14. "St. Louis Union Station – A National Historic Landmark with Memories As Major Rail Hub". St. Louis Front Page. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
15. "St. Louis Union Station Architectural Drawings (WUA00363), 1891–1970 | WUA University Archives". archon.wustl.edu. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
16. List of Recovered Buildings November 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

• Montesi, Albert and Richard Deposki (2002). St. Louis Union Station. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-1983-9.
• (PDF). Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
• The St. Louis Union Station: a monograph by the architect and officers of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
• "St. Louis Union Station". www.achp.gov. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Station (St. Louis).

• Official website