Union Depot

About this property

Oklahoma City Union Depot is a building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that served as a "union station" from 1931 until 1967. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It now houses the offices of the Scissortail Park Foundation. Oklahoma City Union Station was built as part of a plan to move surface rail lines and passenger stations of the Rock Island and Frisco railroads out of downtown Oklahoma City. Grade-separating the tracks of the Santa Fe was also part of the plan. Bonds were issued by the city government to repurchase the rights of way of the Frisco and Rock Island and to pay for new civic buildings on the vacated land. Prior to the construction of Union Station, the Rock Island had its depot on North Broadway between West 1st and West 2nd Streets. The Frisco had its passenger facilities a few blocks to the west between West Main and West 1st Streets fronting on North Hudson Street. The previous stations were last used on November 30, 1930, with passenger traffic being moved to a temporary station at the foot of South Hudson Street the next day. The Santa Fe Depot remained in use, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad also continued using its own station. The depot closed to the public in 1967 following the discontinuance of the last passenger trains serving Oklahoma City. Frisco passenger train service ended in May 1967 and Rock Island passenger train service ended in November 1967. The terminal building, with 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m2) on its main floor, is a sprawling, generous California Spanish Mission Revival style. Racial segregation was incorporated into the design of the building and thus, there are two waiting rooms, the larger of which was for white people only and the other for colored people. The structure included many elegant touches (small courtyards and alcoves with fountains and gardens surrounding the station building). Passengers accessed the original 12-track station through tunnels via a ramp from the depot's waiting room. Mail and express shipments were also routed under the station to the surface passenger platforms. Traffic on Hudson and Harvey streets met the trains "at grade," enabling passenger access and exchange of mail and express freight between trucks and trains. Traffic on Robinson and Walker streets used underpasses built as part of the station complex. Freight warehouses and material handling areas were located behind the passenger facilities. Union Station was served by two different railroads. the Choctaw Rocket (Memphis - Amarillo) and unnamed local service (Memphis - Tucumcari) The Frisco railroad operated trains such as the Meteor (St. Louis - Springfield, Tulsa - Oklahoma City), the Firefly (Kansas City - Oklahoma City) and the Will Rogers (St. Louis - Springfield, Tulsa - Oklahoma City) all through Tulsa to the northeast.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Oklahoma County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Oklahoma County.

More historic places in Oklahoma

Browse all historic places in Oklahoma.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Oklahoma history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.