Union station info

1910-20

UNION STATION

Visualizing historical information in a way that appeals to the masses, but especially young adults who appreciate interactive pieces that will keep them entertained.

1911 !

Construction begins on the massive building. Union Station is designed in the beaux-arts architectural style popular in the United States and France in the late 1800s and early 1900s. !

Excavation of the site at what was to become 30 West Pershing began in 1911 and the new station was opened for business on October 30, 1914. Union Station was designed in the grand tradition of beaux-arts architecture, popular in Europe and the United States in the late 1800's and early 1900's. !

Construction costs were about $6 million. The massive 850,000 square foot terminal was the third largest train station in America at the time of its completion. With the destruction of Penn Central Station in the 1960's, Union Station became number two. Only Grand Central Terminal in New York City is larger.

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.

OCTOBER 30, 1914 !

Union Station opens to the public. Just after midnight on the morning of Nov. 1, the first train, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Flyer, arrives at Union Station. The station cost nearly $6 million and was part of a $50 million investment by KCTR that also included track additions, switching towers, viaducts and bridges.

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The new construction and actual renovation, which began last month, are expected to be completed in November 1999.

Once restored, the station will look as it did when it was proclaimed the ''great gate to the west'' by President Woodrow Wilson at its opening on Oct. 30, 1914. !

The limestone exterior has held up relatively well, but the interior will require extensive renovation. But once complete, the building will take visitors back to the turn of the century when huge, distinguished buildings like the station were constructed for public use.

Opened in 1914, it served as a replacement for the original Union Depot which opened in 1878. Union Station served a peak annual passenger traffic of over 670,000 in 1945 at the end of World War II, then spent the next four decades in gradual decline until its closure in 1985.

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1917 !

Rail traffic peaks during WWI-with 79,368 trains passing through the Station, including 271 trains in one day.

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1921 !

All five World War I allied commanders arrive by train at Union Station and meet together for groundbreaking ceremonies for the Liberty Memorial. Located across the street from Union Station, the Liberty Memorial is a monument dedicated to the men and women who served and died in World War I. The memorial was officially dedicated in 1926.

Kansas City is fortunate enough to be blessed with three buildings designed by architect Jarvis Hunt."

-- Buildings Magazine, 2003

Jarvis Hunt has a building on the recent list of America's 150 favorite buildings: Kansas City Union Station.

Union Station in Kansas City is the supreme landmark building of that city (which is now larger than St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh).

Union Station is part of the City Beautiful Movement.

Meyer believed strongly in a concept that would later become known as the City Beautiful Movement. Proponents of City Beautiful believed that a growing population was not an adequate measure of a city’s health, because an accidental collection of people did not form a true community. Therefore, cities needed to actively plan for the physical and moral wellbeing of their citizens, who could, in return, contribute to the welfare of the city.

Life in "Good Ol' KC" Part 1: Arrival

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During early March of 1923, a young mother and her two small children boarded the Kansas City Southern railroad train, the “Katy,” bound for Kansas City, Missouri, to join her husband and two older children who had arrived two weeks earlier. The family of six planned to live with the paternal grandmother living there. A train ride was a completely new experience for me, a child of seven born in Fulton, Arkansas. It was the very first time that I had ever seen a railroad train up close.

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The 1920s was an era when deep and intense segregation prevailed, especially in the southern part of the country, so my mother, my sister and I were seated in the “Jim Crow” coach car which was located immediately behind the train’s engine and fuel car. The train conductor, an older white man, appeared to delight in intimidating my mother each time he came through the car by making rude, derogatory comments to her. The trip which had begun with so much anticipation and excitement soon became a nightmare, and I trembled with fear each time he appeared.

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As we left the train and entered the lobby of the huge stone building, the Union Station, I was overwhelmed by the enormous size of it. I stared in amazement at the bustling sight before me. There were people everywhere, some walking around and some were seated on long wooden seats. An air of excitement pervaded the entire place. Then an even greater surprise awaited me as I stepped through the doorway of the station to the outside. Although it was nighttime, the brilliance of the street lights and the lights in a parking lot lined with rows of Yellow Cabs left me wide-eyed and filled with awe. It was as if it had suddenly become daytime again. The only lights at nighttime that I had ever seen before were fireflies as they darted through the darkness. The ride in the taxicab to the house where my grandmother, father, and two sisters were living was the climax to an unbelievable day.

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Our joy of being reunited as a family was short-lived, however, as my grandmother’s landlady was so dismayed at the idea of six more people living in the house with her that she ordered the entire family to move from her home at 25th and Michigan.

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Within the period of slightly more than one year, our family occupied three different houses located no more than three blocks from the Michigan address, before my father decided to build a home of his own at 24th and Euclid. Our home was a very simple one. It had a combined living room and dining room area, three bedrooms, a kitchen, and bathroom. It also had electric lights which consisted of a ceiling light fixture with a single light bulb in it in each room, and each light had its very own switch on the wall. Not too many years passed before my father had a coal burning furnace installed in the unfinished basement. Some of our neighbors still had coal and wood burning stoves. We felt so-o-o proud of our home.

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A few years after we had settled in our new home, we were paid a visit by one of our young cousins from Arkansas. She was terrified of those strange looking light switches, and we (by then her “city slicker” cousins) laughed uproariously until we were reprimanded by our mother.

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Geneva Morris May 13, 2008

Jilian Mincer, Restoring Historic Union Station in Kansas City, The New York Times February 8, 1998 Jeffrey Spivak's 1999 book, "Union Station, Kansas City," is devoted entirely to this building complex and its role in the history of Kansas City.

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Jarvis Hunt was "An outspoken proponent of the City Beautiful movement." -- Kansas City Public Library

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William H. Wilson's 1964 book, "The City Beautiful Movement in Kansas City," devotes one of its eight chapters to "Jarvis Hunt and his Union Station."

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