U.S., St. Louis And Kansas City History: Huge, Beautiful Union Stations, But Today Amtrak Offers Just A Shadow Of Past Service

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; April 19, 2021

We all have become conditioned to think that Chicago is the hub of the railroad world and it has always been that way.

With the exception of the Sunset Limited, every one of Amtrak’s western transcontinental long distance/inter-regional trains has a Chicago terminal. From the east, Chicago is the terminal for Amtrak’s three east/west trains, too. The City of New Orleans may be named for its southern terminal, but the train, along with the Texas Eagle, calls Chicago its true home. Added to those are the state-subsidized trains terminating in Chicago for Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Missouri trains, to, of the St. Louis variety have a terminal in Chicago.

We know, though it wasn’t always this way. Kansas City and St. Louis not too long ago were huge passenger train terminal cities as well as handling major through trains.

Ever-available Wikipedia briefly tells us the overview of St. Louis Union Station:

“St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.

“In the 1980s, it was renovated as a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex. The 2010s and 2020s saw more renovation and expansion of entertainment and office capacity.

“An adjacent station serves the light-rail MetroLink Red and Blue Lines, which run under the station in the Union Station subway tunnel. The city’s intercity train station sits a quarter-mile to the south, serving MetroLink, Amtrak, and Greyhound Bus.”

The “new” St. Louis Amtrak station for three decades was an assembly of temporary Amtrak trailers while the lengthy process of deciding on and building of a new station took place. The once-grand St. Louis Union Station’s replacement became temporarily known as SLUT – St. Louis Union Trailers – until the new facility opened in 2008.

Wikipedia about the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center:

“The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center, also known as Gateway Station, is a rail and bus terminal station in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Opened in 2008 and operating 24 hours a day, it serves Amtrak trains and Greyhound and Burlington Trailways interstate buses. Missouri’s largest rail transportation station, it is located one block east of St. Louis Union Station.

“Gateway Station cost $31.4 million to build and after more than a year of delays, it fully opened November 19, 2008. …”

Wikipedia has one of the greatest fun facts about St. Louis Union Station and President Harry Truman:

“At its height, the station combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads, the most of any single terminal in the world. … The famous photograph of Harry S. Truman holding aloft the erroneous Chicago Tribune headline, ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’, was shot at the station as Truman headed back to Washington, D.C., from Independence, Missouri, after the 1948 Presidential election.”

Think about the fact in the 1940s St. Louis Union Station served 22 different railroads, the most of any single terminal in the world. How busy were the platform gatekeepers, constantly changing signage for whichever train of whichever of the individual 22 railroads had arriving or departing passenger trains. Imagine what it took for the constant public address announcement keeping the passenger informed?

The July 1956 edition of The Official Guide of the Railways listed (in alphabetical order) the railroads using St. Louis Union Station as Alton & Southern, Baltimore & Ohio, Burlington Route, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Chicago Rock Island & Pacific, Frisco Lines, Gulf Mobile & Ohio, Illinois Central, Illinois Terminal, Litchfield & Madison, Louisville & Nashville, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Missouri Pacific, New York Central, Nickel Plate Road, Pennsylvania, St. Louis Southwestern, Southern, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, and the Wabash. A freight railroad listed as “Manufacturers” was also listed among the passenger railroads, but with a notation of freight service only.

So much of St. Louis Union Station and the monstrous train shed have been lovingly restored and maintained; it makes a great place to visit to just imagine the grandeur of it all and how much it must have been such a vibrant transportation hub in its heyday.

St. Louis Union Station was initially designed with 32 tracks under the train shed, but was later expanded. Today’s Gateway Transportation Center in contrast has six tracks and two island platforms.

Kansas City Union Station, a few years newer than St. Louis Union Station is equally impressive. Again, from Wikipedia:

“Kansas City Union Station … is a union station opened in 1914, serving Kansas City, Missouri, and the surrounding metropolitan area. It replaced a small Union Depot from 1878. Union Station served a peak annual traffic of more than 670,000 passengers in 1945 at the end of World War II, quickly declined in the 1950s, and was closed in 1985.

“In 1996, a public–private partnership undertook Union Station’s $250 million restoration, funded in part by a sales tax levied in both Kansas and Missouri counties in the Kansas City metropolitan area. By 1999, the station reopened as a series of museums and other public attractions. In 2002, Union Station saw its return as a train station when Amtrak began providing public transportation services and has since become Missouri’s second-busiest train station. The refurbished station boasts theaters, ongoing museum exhibits, and attractions such as the Science City at Union Station, the Irish Museum and Cultural Center, and the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity.”

Kansas City had the smaller Kansas City Union Depot prior to Union Station. Wikipedia picks up the story in the waning years of Union Depot:

“By the start of the 20th century, over 180 trains were passing daily through the station, serving a city whose population had tripled during its first-quarter century of operation. In 1903, the lack of room for expansion … led the city and the railroads to decide a new station was required.

“… The decision to build a new station was spearheaded by the Kansas City Terminal Railway, a switching and terminal railroad that was a joint operation of the following railroad lines:

• Alton Railroad
• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
• Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
• Chicago Great Western Railway
• Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
• Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
• Kansas City Southern Railway
• Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
• Missouri Pacific Railroad
• St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
• Union Pacific Railroad
• Wabash Railroad

“The new location was chosen to be a valley at 25th Street and Grand Avenue used by the Kansas City Belt Railway. It was south of the central business district …

“The architect chosen to design the Union Station building was Jarvis Hunt … . The design was a main hall for ticketing, and a perpendicular hall extending out over the tracks for passenger waiting. The Beaux-Arts station opened on October 30, 1914, as the third-largest train station in the country. The building encompassed 850,000 square feet, the ceiling in the Grand Hall is 95 feet high, there are three chandeliers weighing 3,500 pounds each, and the Grand Hall clock has a six-foot diameter face. …

“Union Station made headlines on June 17, 1933, as four lawmen were gunned down by gang members attempting to free captured fugitive Frank Nash. Nash was also killed in the gun battle. The Kansas City Massacre highlighted the lawlessness of Kansas City under the Pendergast Machine and resulted in the arming of all FBI agents.

“In 1945, annual passenger traffic peaked at 678,363. … By 1973, only 32,842 passengers passed through the facility, all passenger train service was now run by Amtrak, and the building was beginning to deteriorate. The city government of Kansas City wished to preserve and redevelop the building. …”

In July of 1956 Kansas City Union Station was served by Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, Burlington Route, Chicago Great Western, Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific, Frisco Lines, Gulf Mobile & Ohio, Kansas City Public Service, Kansas City Connecting, Kansas City Kaw Valley, Kansas City Southern, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific and Wabash.

The station established in 1914 because the old Union Depot was running out of space and was handling over 180 trains daily today serves Amtrak with one island platform.

Chicago remains a busy place – by design – but it’s worth examining how many more trains should be based out of Chicago and how many new trains instead should look to history and find their place in the sun in St. Louis and Kansas City.

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