Union Station (Louisville)

Louisville, KY
inter-city rail station
The former platform for the Kentucky Cardinal at Louisville Union Station.
General information
Location	1000 West Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky USA
Coordinates	38°14′46″N 85°46′8″W / 38.24611°N 85.76889°W / 38.24611; -85.76889
Tracks	1
Construction
Architect	F.W. Mowbray, Col Henry C. Wolters
Architectural style	Romanesque
History
Opened	1889
Closed	1979 (first time) July 5, 2003 (second time)
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Bowling Green toward St. Petersburg or Miami Floridian Indianapolis 1971–1975 toward Chicago Bloomington 1975–1976 toward Chicago Jeffersonville toward Chicago Kentucky Cardinal Terminus Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Jeffersonville toward Chicago Chicago – Louisville Terminus Preceding station Louisville and Nashville Railroad Following station Shepherdsville toward New Orleans Main Line Cincinnati St. Louis Louisville Terminus Preceding station Monon Railroad Following station New Albany toward Chicago Main Line Terminus
Former services at Auto-Train station Preceding station auto-train Following station Terminus Sanford–Louisville 1974–1977 Sanford Terminus Preceding station Amtrak Following station Bloomington toward Chicago Floridian 1976–1979 Bowling Green toward St. Petersburg or Miami
Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front and western side at sunset
NRHP reference No.	75000777[1]
Added to NRHP	August 11, 1975
Location
Louisville, KY Location within Kentucky

The Union Station of

and other railroads.

Construction

Construction of the station began in 1880, but completion was delayed until 1889 due to rising costs totaling at $310,656.47. Local contractors constructed all but the clock tower. Architect Col Henry C. Wolters is credited with the design and supervision of the original structure.^[3] Architect F. W. Mowbray was specifically hired for the project, which was to reflect the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture. Its exterior was made of limestone ashlar, mostly from Bowling Green, Kentucky, although that from Bedford, Indiana was used for its trim. The roof was made of a slate covering protecting iron and heavy wood. Architectural features include a clock tower, smaller towers, turrets, a facade of considerable size, and barreled vaulting.^[4] This station was a street-running station.

The interior was no less impressive. The atrium, dining, and ladies' retiring rooms on the first floor were quite spacious. A wrought iron balcony overlooked the atrium. Soft lighting of the facility came from rose-colored windows on both sides of the atrium. The walls were made of marble from Georgia, as well as oak and southern pine. Ceramic tiles covered the floor.^[5]

History

Union Station provided the entrance to Louisville for many visitors, with its height being the 1920s, when it served 58 trains a day. As a Union Station, it served not only the L&N railroad, but also the

allowing overnight accommodations, a trend that continued until the mid-1960s.

Three separate United States presidents arrived in Louisville by Union Station. The lobby was once graced by a performance by Sarah Bernhardt.^[5]

On July 17, 1905, a fire occurred in the facility. The structure was unusable until it reopened the following December. A temporary structure was used in its place during the restoration. The rose-colored windows were replaced due to the fire with an 84-paneled stained glass skylight that became a feature of the barrel-vaulting tower. The Ohio River flood of 1937 also saw the structure close for twelve days.^[5]

.

L&N would eventually sell Union Station to TARC, which spent two million dollars from 1979 to 1980 to restore it. Since then it has served as administration offices for TARC.[5]

In October 2010, TARC announced plans to use a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to restore all 278 windows at the 120-year-old Union Station, including 40 made of stained glass. Union Station will also get a new geothermal-energy system. Combined with the window restoration, TARC estimates its energy savings will be $58,000 per year.^[7]

Major named trains served at the station

Until the 1950s and 1960s the station served several prominent trains.

• Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway
  (Monon Railroad):
  • Chicago, Illinois
    – Louisville
• Louisville & Nashville
  :
  • Azalean,
    New Orleans, Louisiana, with western branch to Memphis, Tennessee
  • Cincinnati, Ohio – Jacksonville, Florida
  • Florida Arrow (winter train, pooled with the Pennsylvania Railroad and others), Chicago–Miami (and Sarasota and St. Petersburg)
  • Humming Bird, Cincinnati, Ohio – New Orleans
  • Pan-American, New York, New York – New Orleans
  • Miami, Florida
  • unnamed trains to
    Evansville
  • unnamed trains to Lexington, Kentucky via Frankfort, Kentucky
• Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR):
  • Kentuckian, Chicago – Louisville
  • Union, Chicago – Louisville branch (diverting from Chicago-Cincinnati branch at Logansport, Indiana)

Connecting PRR trains to

St. Louis, Missouri

– New York City trains:

• • American, Metropolitan, Penn Texas and St. Louisan

Connecting PRR train to

Fort Wayne

for:

• • Northern Arrow (Mackinaw City, Michigan – Cincinnati)

See also

• List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area
• Union Station (Owensboro, Kentucky)
• Humming Bird
• Pan-American
• South Wind
• Floridian

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. ^ Kleber 2000, p. 897
3. ProQuest 1081995288
   .
4. ^ Kleber 2000, pp. 897–898
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} Kleber 2000, p. 898
6. ^ Sanders 2006, p. 221
7. ^ Ivey, Steve (October 28, 2010). "TARC gets $9 million in federal grants". Louisville Business First.

Bibliography

• Kleber, John E. (2000). Encyclopedia of Louisville. University Press of Kentucky.
  ISBN 978-0813121000
  .
• Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana:
  ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Station (Louisville, Kentucky).

• TARC History and Union Station