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Omaha Union Station

Saturday, 23 September 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: North America / Nordamerika
Category/Kategorie: General, Architecture Reading Time:  3 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post The Union Station, at 801 South 10th Street in Omaha, Nebraska, known also as Union Passenger Terminal, is “one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the Midwest“. Designated an Omaha Landmark in 1978, it was listed as “Union Passenger Terminal” on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. The Union Station is also a contributing property to the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District. It was the Union Pacific’s first Art Deco railroad station, and the completion of the terminal “firmly established Omaha as an important railroad terminus in the Midwest”.

The second depot was designed by Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost, and construction began in October, 1898. Completed on December 1, 1899 at a cost of $405,782, the building’s façade rose 60 feet (18 m) above the Tenth Street Viaduct the building faced. It was primarily built from pressed brick made in Omaha, as well as Bedford stone used in the architectural details. A canopy of glass and iron protected passengers from the elements as they entered the station.

We have tried to express the distinctive character of the railroad: strength, power, masculinity.
– Omaha Union Station Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood

By 1946, 64 steam locomotives were in operation bringing 10,000 passengers daily in and out of the Union Station. However, within a decade everything changed. In 1956 the Chicago and North Western Railroad stopped its line running through Omaha. 1960 saw the exit of Wabash Railroad. In 1965 the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Chicago Great Western Railway quit running, followed by the Rock Island Railroad in 1969. Passenger service ceased in 1971, and the Union Station was donated to the City of Omaha by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1973.

That year the station quickly became the home of the Durham Museum. The Union Pacific Museum and Archives were also located there. In 1997 the Union Station underwent a renovation that included a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m²) addition and new climate controls for the museum, and today the building is a contributing property to the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District, bordering the Old Market Historic District and Omaha’s Little Italy.

Read more on DurhamMuseum.org – History of Union Station, VisitOmaha.com – Durham Museum, National Park Service – Omaha Union Station and Wikipedia Omaha Union Station (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.