Photo of the Week: 7/13/2012

This week we feature Union Station, in Kansas City.  Union Station was built in 1914, in the heart of Kansas City, by twelve railroads that once provided passenger rail service to the area.  Originally, it had 20 tracks, and the main concourse, with its 100 foot ceiling, was designed to hold 10,000 people.  The building had shops, dining, shoe shine service, a barber, cigar shop, post office, spacious waiting rooms, and offices for several railroads.  Besides passengers, mail and express goods also came through Union Station.  The entire building had over 850,000 square feet of usable floor space, in over 900 rooms.  The building was huge, just as railroad stations were in many major cities all over the country.

As passenger rail service fell into decline in the 1960's and 1970's, Union Station began to see less passenger traffic.  Eventually, maintenance budgets were cut, and the station ultimately fell into disrepair.  Amtrak continued to use Union Station into the 1970's and early 1980's, for the Southwest Chief, but eventually the building was in such bad shape, that they were forced to leave Union Station and build an "Amshack" nearby to serve passengers.  In the 1990's however, the station was given a new life.  Starting in 1997, the station was completely renovated and cleaned, inside and out.  By the end of the project, over 10 million pounds of dirt and debris had been removed.  The roof was replaced with identical tiles, and the interior was completely restored.  The chandeliers, which are each 12 feet in diameter, contain a half mile of wiring, and require over 11,000 watts, were all carefully dismantled, then cleaned and restored, and reassembled.  The ceiling had to be mostly replaced because of water damage, but every detail was reconstructed in plaster, just as the original had been.  The company responsible for the ceiling had also restored the ceilings Grand Central Terminal and Windsor Castle.  The color of every part of the building, from paint to metal, stone, roof tiles, and plaster, was carefully and painstakingly matched by a process of carefully scraping away the dirt and grime, one layer at a time.  The entire restoration took approximately two years to complete.

Today, Union Station is a very attractive landmark, right in the middle of town.  Most of the passenger tracks are gone, only two remain.  There are six passenger trains per day that stop there, so it is still much quieter than it was in decades past.  However, the building sees many visitors every day, because there is once again fine dining, shops, exhibits, and events in the station.  The station plays host to a number of traveling exhibits as well as permanent ones.  There is a planetarium and science center there, as well as a model railroad, post office, several gift shops, and fire fighting museum.  In addition, during my visit, an exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic was also at the depot.  Of course, Amtrak once again has a presence in Union Station too, having returned in 2002.  The "Amshack" is nothing more than a small crew office now, and serves no function for passengers.

And finally, the photos!