Union Station
About this property
Union Station is a building in Houston, Texas, in the United States. Dedicated on March 2, 1911, and formerly a hub of rail transportation, the building now serves as a cornerstone for Daikin Park. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has since been superseded by Houston's Amtrak station. In 1909 the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company commissioned the design of a new union station for Houston from New York City-based architects Warren and Wetmore. The location called for the demolition of several structures of Houston prominence. Horace Baldwin Rice's residence and Adath Yeshurun Congregation's synagogue among other structures were removed. With an original estimated cost of US$1 million, Union Station was constructed by the American Construction Company for an eventual total of five times that amount. Exterior walls were constructed of granite, limestone, and terracotta, while the interior used an extensive amount of marble. It was completed and opened on March 1, 1911. At the time, Houston, with seventeen railways, was considered the main railroad hub of the Southern United States. This is also evident by the Seal of Houston, which prominently features a locomotive. Two more floors were added the following year. The station served as the main inter-city passenger terminal for Houston for over seven decades thereafter. Twin Star Rocket, to Minneapolis, via Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City and Des Moines Texas Eagle, to St. Louis; Houstonian and Orleanian to Beaumont, Baton Rouge and New Orleans; Pioneer and Valley Eagle to Brownsville and Corpus Christi, Texas Texas Chief to Chicago, and service from Houston to Clovis, New Mexico and Temple, Texas (for Santa Fe trains to Richmond and Los Angeles, California and Chicago) The Southern Pacific Railroad maintained its own station approximately one mile from Union Station. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad also maintained its own station about 0.8 miles from Union Station. Passenger rail declined greatly after World War II. When Amtrak took over most intercity rail service in 1971, Union Station was one of two stations used by the new company, the other being the new Southern Pacific station built in 1959 that served the Sunset Limited. However, it soon became apparent that Amtrak could not afford to maintain two stations in the area. The last regularly scheduled train that stopped at Union Station, the Lone Star (successor of the Texas Chief), was rerouted to the Southern Pacific station on July 31, 1974. With this move, the building effectively ceased to be a public facility and was taken over by the Houston Belt & Terminal and its parent railroads as office space and a dispatching center. One section of the building in the south end of the second floor was leased to the Houston Society of Model Engineers, which operated a large HO scale model railroad layout they named the "Texas, Crawford & Prairie RR", after the three streets which form the boundary of the original property of the station. On November 10, 1977, the building was named to the National Register of Historic Places.
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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.
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Questions about this property
When was Union Station listed on the National Register?
Union Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 1977.
What type of historic resource is Union Station?
Union Station is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Union Station?
The period of significance for Union Station is recorded as the civil_war era.
Can I research the history near Union Station?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Union Station will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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