The Indianapolis Traction Terminal was a major

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. It was the largest interurban station in the world and at its peak handled 500 trains per day and seven million passengers per year. The station opened in 1904 and remained in use until 1941, when interurban operation ended. It continued to serve as a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

until 1968 and was demolished in 1972. The Hilton Indianapolis now stands at its location.

Design

The terminal was designed by D. H. Burnham & Company, an architectural firm based in

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

. The terminal consisted of three parts: a nine-story office building, a passenger waiting platform, and an adjoining

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. The train shed was wide and covered nine tracks. It was positioned north-south, with trains entering from Market Street and exiting to Ohio Street. The train shed severed Wabash Street. East of the train shed was the waiting station. This consisted of a by platform covered by a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

, with waiting rooms underneath. The office building stood nine stories tall and was by at its base. The building's frame was constructed with steel. The exterior of the first two stories was covered in Bedford limestone, native to Indiana, while the remaining seven stories were "speckled brick." The original complex included a freight-handling area in the northwest corner. By 1918 freight traffic outstripped the terminal's ability to handle it and the

Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company The Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company, or THI&E, was the second largest interurban in the U.S. state of Indiana at the 1920s height of the "interurban era." This system included over of track, with lines radiating from Indi ...

constructed a separate freight station on Kentucky Avenue. All freight traffic to the terminal ended in 1924.

History

The terminal was the joint effort of seven interurban railroads which provided service to Indianapolis: Indiana Traction;

Indianapolis and Eastern Railway Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

; Indianapolis and Cincinnati Traction; Indianapolis, Columbus and Southern Traction; Indianapolis and Martinville Rapid Transit;

Indianapolis Coal Traction Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

; and the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction. Construction began in July 1903 and was completed in September 1904. The total cost of construction exceeded . It was the largest interurban station in the world. Indianapolis stood at the center of a large interurban network; in 1914 the terminal handled 500 trains per day and seven million passengers per year. Interurban service to the terminal ended in 1941 as the industry collapsed. The tracks were paved over but the terminal remained in use as a bus station until October 1968, at which time the former train shed was removed. In April 1972 the office building was demolished as well. The Hilton Indianapolis, originally constructed as the headquarters of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana (part of

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

), now occupies the block. When the Terminal's train shed was torn down in 1968, it was dismantled, not demolished. The structural steel girder sections were numbered and removed to the site of the Indiana Museum of Transport and Communication (known today as the

Indiana Transportation Museum The Indiana Transportation Museum ( initialized ITM, reporting mark ITMZ) is a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owns a variety of preserved railroad equipment ...

) in Forest Park, located in

Noblesville, Indiana Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, a part of the north Indianapolis suburbs along the White River (Indiana), White River. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 Unite ...

. The $10,500 cost for that portion of the project was almost entirely financed (all but $500) by a donation from

Ruth Lilly Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

, and the original goal was to eventually reassemble the shed and use it to shelter the museum's existing and future railroad equipment collection. An adjoining two-story office and waiting room was envisioned, which was to include a scaled-down replica of the terminal's original waiting room. However, the plan languished due to the prohibitive projected cost of its reconstruction. The stacked girders remained untouched until the early 1980s, when they were finally hauled away as scrap. The only surviving remnants of the complex today are two stone eagle sculptures that once flanked either side of the train shed. They were removed in 1968 and are now located on the steps of the

Old Indianapolis City Hall Old Indianapolis City Hall, formerly known as the Indiana State Museum, is a historic city hall located at Indianapolis, Indiana. It was built in 1909–1910, and is a four-story, Classical Revival style brick building sheathed in Indiana limes ...

References

External links

{{commons category, Indianapolis Traction Terminal
Indianapolis Traction Terminal at Historic Indianapolis
1904 establishments in Indiana Buildings and structures in Indianapolis Former railway stations in Indiana Railway stations closed in 1941 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1904 Transportation buildings and structures in Marion County, Indiana 1972 disestablishments in Indiana Buildings and structures demolished in 1972 Demolished railway stations in the United States