Dayton Union Station was a railroad station serving

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

with daily passenger trains of several railroads. The station was located at 251 W. Sixth Street at the intersection of Ludlow Street, and it opened in 1900, replacing an earlier depot built in the mid-1850s. It was owned by the Dayton Union Railroad Co., which was owned by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, the

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States. It operated in affiliation with the New York Central system. I ...

, and the

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route (Panhandle Route in later days), was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its common name came from its main line, whic ...

. Through a series of mergers over the years, it was ultimately owned by the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

, and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

. Colloquially called the "Tower Depot," it included a seven-story

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

. In the first 30 years of operation, the station hosted as many as 66 passenger trains a day. In 1931 the station opened an elevated platform to alleviate congestion between trains,

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

s and

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s. Famous people who stopped by the station included child actress

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

in 1944, President Harry S. Truman in 1948 and President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

in 1983, both of the latter two making campaign stops, Reagan making a whistle stop tour.

Named trains

Dayton Union Station interior 1908 postcard

Decline

In summer 1964 part of the station was demolished to make way for an extension of Sixth Street.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

took over passenger service in 1971, and cut back service to a single train, the '' Spirit of St. Louis,'' inherited from

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

. That train was subsequently extended to Kansas City and renamed the '' National Limited''. National Limited at Dayton Union Station, February 1978

The last train out of the station was the ''National Limited,'' which was eliminated in October, 1979 when U.S. Transportation Secretary

Brock Adams Brockman Adams (January 13, 1927 – September 10, 2004) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of Congress. A Democrat from Washington, Adams served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, and United States Secretary of Trans ...

opted to eliminate half a dozen

routes he deemed lower performing. The last remnants of the station were removed altogether in 1989.

Notes

External links

Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Early Years -Photos of the station in its earliest decadesWright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: 1940s & 1950s -Photos of the station from the mid-20th CenturyWright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Later Years 1960s+ -Photos of the station from the 1960s to the 1980s
{{Amtrak Ohio stations Former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations Former New York Central Railroad stations Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations

Former railway stations in Ohio Railway stations in the United States opened in 1900 Railway stations closed in 1979 Demolished railway stations in the United States Former Amtrak stations in Ohio