Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed is a historic former train station in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. Built in 1898 by the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

, rail service to the station ended in 1979 and it has since been adapted for use by the Montgomery Area Visitor Center and commercial tenants. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973 and became a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1976.

History

Erected of brick and limestone on a high bluff along the

Alabama River The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka. The river flows west to Selma, then southwest until, about from Mobile, it un ...

, the station was built by

(L&N) in 1898. The station also served passenger trains of Atlantic Coast Line,

Western Railway of Alabama The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) also seen as "WofA" was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad (M&WP) in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from Montgomery, Ala ...

Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

Central of Georgia The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was cons ...

, and

Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two pa ...

. The station had six tracks under a shed, with a coach yard on the south end of the station as well as a

Railway Express Agency Railway Express Agency (REA), founded as the American Railway Express Agency and later renamed the American Railway Express Inc., was a national package delivery service that operated in the United States from 1918 to 1975. REA arranged transp ...

facility. The station's design segregated passengers by race and incorporated

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

elements. L&N trains using the station included the ''Azalean,'' ''Florida Arrow,'' ''

Humming Bird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

,'' '' Pan-American'' and ''

South Wind A south wind is a wind that originates in the south and blows in a northward direction. Words used in English to describe the south wind are auster, buster (a violent south gale), föhn/foehn (alps), ghibli (Libya with various spellings), friage ...

.'' Traditionally, the Southern Railway's ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

'' and ''

Piedmont Limited The ''Piedmont Limited'' was a named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway in the southern United States. For most of its life it was a New York—New Orleans train, operating over the same route as the more famous '' Crescent Li ...

'' were routed through the station. The number of passenger trains using Union Station declined during the 1950s and 1960s. The last Southern Railway train, the ''Crescent,'' left in 1970 when that train was rerouted north through Birmingham. The ''Pan American'' ended in 1971 when the L&N yielded passenger operations to Amtrak. When

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

came into existence in 1971, it continued passenger service through Montgomery with a single train (the ''

'', later renamed the '' Floridian''), operating between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. However, this train was terminated in 1979 and Union Station was closed. After a period of disuse, Union Station was renovated for commercial tenants. The train shed still stands, although tracks under it have been replaced by asphalt parking. It was declared a

in 1976, for its importance in the state's railroad transportation history, and for the train shed, a rare surviving example of a 19th-century gable-roofed shed (most of which were later replaced by balloon sheds). and Amtrak returned to Montgomery in 1989 with an extension of the ''

'' called the ''

Gulf Breeze Gulf Breeze is a city in Santa Rosa County, Florida. It is a suburb of Pensacola, and is in the Pensacola Metropolitan Area. The population estimate was 6,900 in 2020. Gulf Breeze is located just north of Pensacola Beach, and south of Pensaco ...

'' from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

, but Union Station was not used. Instead, Amtrak contracted with a

travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

who occupied a former grain

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

nearby. This Amtrak service was terminated in 1995, and Montgomery has had no passenger rail service since. Among other tenants, Union Station currently hosts the Montgomery Area Visitor Center.

Gallery

file:VIEW LOOKING WEST FROM INTERIOR - Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed, Water Street, opposite Lee Street, Montgomery, Montgomery County, AL HAER ALA,51-MONG,23A-11.tif, Looking West, Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed File:3-4 VIEW OF TRAINSHED LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed, Water Street, opposite Lee Street, Montgomery, Montgomery County, AL HAER ALA,51-MONG,23A-4.tif, Union Station Train Shed, 1974 File:3-4 VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST - Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed, Water Street, opposite Lee Street, Montgomery, Montgomery County, AL HAER ALA,51-MONG,23A-6.tif, Union Station Train Shed, 1974 File:Montgomery Alabama Union Station Trainshed on June 9, 1987 (22370799387).jpg, Union Station Train Shed, 1987 File:Union Station Montgomery 2008.JPG, Union Station in 2008 File:Montgomery Union Station trainshed 2008.JPG, The interior of the train shed in 2008.

References

External links

* *http://www.visitingmontgomery.com * * {{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery, Alabama Buildings and structures in Montgomery, Alabama Former Amtrak stations in Alabama Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama National Historic Landmarks in Alabama Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Railway stations in the United States opened in 1898 Union stations in the United States Transportation in Montgomery, Alabama Romanesque Revival architecture in Alabama Former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad stations Former Seaboard Air Line Railroad stations Former Mobile and Ohio Railroad stations Former Louisville and Nashville Railroad stations Former Central of Georgia Railway stations Railroad-related National Historic Landmarks Transportation buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Alabama Railway stations closed in 1979

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links