Union Station (Kansas City)

Union Station (Kansas City), located in Kansas City, Missouri, is one of many train stations in the United States bearing the name Union Station.

History

Around the turn of the 20th Century, the Kansas City Terminal Railway , a company controlled by the twelve railroads serving Kansas City, decided that a new location was needed for the train depot. The location at the time was prone to flooding by the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. A new location was selected south of the central business district, above and away from the floodplain. The architect chosen to design the building was Jarvis Hunt , a proponent of the City Beautiful movement. The Beaux-Arts station opened on October 30, 1914 as the third-largest train station in the country. The building encompasses 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. Due to its central location, Kansas City was a hub for both passenger and freight rail traffic. The scale of the building reflected this status.

Union Station made headlines on June 17, 1933, as four unarmed FBI agents were gunned down by gang members attempting to free captured fugitive Frank Nash . Nash was also killed in the gun battle. The 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. As train travel declined beginning in the 1950s, the city had less and less need for a large train station. 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. To facilitate this, they made a development deal with Trizec, a Canadian redevelopment firm. Included in the deal was an agreement that Trizec would redevelop the station. Between 1979 and 1986, Trizec constructed two office buildings on surrounding property, but did not redevelop the station. In 1985, Amtrak moved all passenger operations to a smaller facility. By this time, the station was essentially closed. In 1988, the city filed suit against Trizec for the failure to develop the station; the case was settled in 1994. For most of this time period, the building continued to decay.

Renovation

In 1996, residents of the city and the surrounding metropolitan area in both Kansas and Missouri approved the so-called "bi-state tax", a 1/8th of a cent sales tax, part of which went to fund the restoration of Union Station. Renovations were begun in 1997 and completed in 1999. The station is now home to the Science City museum, restaurants and retail shops, IMAX and live-action theaters, and a planetarium. In 2002, Amtrak restored passenger train service to the station. Financially, the station has run a deficit since the renovation.

External links

• Official website