Union Station (Louisville)
Encyclopedia
The Union Station of Louisville, Kentucky
is a historic railroad station
that serves as offices for the Transit Authority of River City
, as it has since mid-April 1980 after receiving a year-long restoration costing approximately $2 million. It was one of three union station
s in Kentucky
, the other two being in Paducah and Owensboro
. It superseded previous, smaller, railroad depots located in Louisville, most notably one located at Tenth and Maple in 1868-1869, and another L&N station built in 1858. The station was formally opened on September 7, 1891 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
. There was a claim made at the time that it was the largest railroad station in the Southern United States, covering forty acres (16 ha).
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.
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.
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 Monon Railroad
, the Pennsylvania Railroad
and the Louisville, Henderson, & St. Louis, the latter eventually merging with the L&N. Many of those traveling to the Kentucky Derby
would use the Union Station as their first place of celebration, with twenty special trains coming to the facility, and Pullman cars 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
.
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.
Amtrak
used the facility regularly from May 1971 until October 1976, when it began running the Floridian
in conjunction with the Auto-Train from a suburban station near Louisville International Airport
. From December 4, 2001 to July 4, 2003, a track on the west side of the parking lot served Amtrak's Kentucky Cardinal.
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.
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.
Floridian (Amtrak)
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
is a historic railroad station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
that serves as offices for the Transit Authority of River City
Transit Authority of River City
The Transit Authority of River City is the major public transportation provider for the Louisville, Kentucky, United States metro area, which includes parts of Southern Indiana. This includes the Kentucky suburbs of Oldham County, Bullitt County, Clark County, and Floyd County in southern Indiana...
, as it has since mid-April 1980 after receiving a year-long restoration costing approximately $2 million. It was one of three union station
Union station
A union station is the term used for a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them...
s in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, the other two being in Paducah and Owensboro
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...
. It superseded previous, smaller, railroad depots located in Louisville, most notably one located at Tenth and Maple in 1868-1869, and another L&N station built in 1858. The station was formally opened on September 7, 1891 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...
. There was a claim made at the time that it was the largest railroad station in the Southern United States, covering forty acres (16 ha).
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 F. W. Mowbray was specifically hired for the project, which was to reflect the Richardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
style of architecture. Its exterior was made of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
, mostly from Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
, although that from Bedford, Indiana
Bedford, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,768 people, 6,054 households, and 3,644 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,157.1 people per square mile . There were 6,618 housing units at an average density of 556.2 per square mile...
was used for its trim. The roof was made of a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
covering protecting iron and heavy wood. Architectural features include a clock tower, smaller towers, turrets, a facade of considerable size, and barreled vaulting.
The interior was no less impressive. The atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
, dining, and ladies' retiring rooms on the first floor were quite spacious. A wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
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
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
from Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, as well as oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and southern pine. Ceramic tiles covered the floor.
History
Monon Railroad
The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway from 1897–1956, operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana...
, the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
and the Louisville, Henderson, & St. Louis, the latter eventually merging with the L&N. Many of those traveling to the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
would use the Union Station as their first place of celebration, with twenty special trains coming to the facility, and Pullman cars 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
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
.
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
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
skylight that became a feature of the barrel-vaulting tower. The Ohio River flood of 1937
Ohio River flood of 1937
The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, one million persons were left homeless, with 385 dead and property losses reaching $500 million...
also saw the structure close for twelve days.
Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
used the facility regularly from May 1971 until October 1976, when it began running the Floridian
Floridian (Amtrak)
The Floridian was an Amtrak route that ran from Chicago to Miami and St. Petersburg, Florida. Its route mainly followed that of several former Louisville and Nashville Railroad passenger trains, including the Humming Bird...
in conjunction with the Auto-Train from a suburban station near Louisville International Airport
Louisville International Airport
Louisville International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport centrally located in the city of Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA. The airport covers 1,200 acres and has three runways. Its IATA airport code SDF is based on the airport's former name, Standiford Field...
. From December 4, 2001 to July 4, 2003, a track on the west side of the parking lot served Amtrak's Kentucky Cardinal.
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.
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
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
. 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.
See also
- List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
- Union Station (Owensboro)Union Station (Owensboro)The Union Station in Owensboro, Kentucky is a historic railroad station, built in 1905. Built mostly for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the station is made of limestone and slate, and currently is home to several businesses.-Description:...
- Humming Bird (passenger train)Humming Bird (passenger train)The Humming Bird was a named train of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad . The train, inaugurated in 1947, originally ran from Cincinnati, Ohio to New Orleans, Louisiana, via Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile, and later via a connection at Bowling Green, Kentucky to...
- Pan-American (passenger train)Pan-American (passenger train)The Pan-American was the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's state-of-the-art train linking the U.S. cities of Cincinnati, Ohio and New Orleans, Louisiana. Service started in 1921 and in 1940 was reequipped with streamlined, lightweight equipment in the way of diners, sleepers, lounges, and...
- South Wind (passenger train)South Wind (passenger train)The South Wind was a named passenger train equipped and operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , and the Florida East Coast Railway. The South Wind began operations in December 1940, providing streamliner service...
- Floridian (Amtrak)Floridian (Amtrak)The Floridian was an Amtrak route that ran from Chicago to Miami and St. Petersburg, Florida. Its route mainly followed that of several former Louisville and Nashville Railroad passenger trains, including the Humming Bird...
External links
Floridian (Amtrak)