New Orleans Union Station was a railroad station in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. It was designed by Louis H. Sullivan for the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

and opened on June 1, 1892. It was located on South Rampart Street, in front of the current

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT) is an intermodal facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and NORTA with direct connections to the Rampart–St. Claud ...

. The station was used primarily by the Illinois Central Railroad as the terminus for its main line from

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

, including the celebrated ''

Panama Limited The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

.'' However, it also served a number of other lines, including the Southern Pacific Railroad and its '' Sunset Limited.'' The

Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (Y&MV) was incorporated in 1882 and was part of the Illinois Central Railroad system (IC). Construction began in Jackson, Mississippi, and continued to Yazoo City, Mississippi. The line was later expanded ...

, an IC subsidiary, used the station for trains from Mississippi. Missouri Pacific (

Gulf Coast Lines The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from New Orleans, Louisiana, via Baton Rouge and Houston to Brownsville, Texas. Originally chartered as s ...

) trains from Houston used this station although other Missouri Pacific trains used the T&P Station. Before the Huey P. Long Bridge was constructed, the ''Sunset'' and other Southern Pacific trains reached the station by ferry from Avondale. By the 1940s, a total of 13 passenger trains arrived and departed from the station daily. New Orleans Union Station was the only train station architect Louis Sullivan designed. It was constructed in the architect's well-known 'Chicago School' style and decorated with his iconic ornament. Adler and Sullivan's head draftsman

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

was involved in the final work under Sullivan's supervision. Union Station was a three-story hip-roofed structure with a cupola, including office and waiting areas, with a broad portico with central columns and arched entryways at each end of the entrance. New Orleans at the time of the station's construction had several other railway stations including the Texas Pacific - Missouri Pacific Railway Station on Annunciation St. between Melpomene and Thalia Streets; The

Louisiana and Arkansas Railway The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Louis ...

Kansas City Southern Railroad The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...

Station at 705 S. Rampart Street; the Southern Railway Terminal at 1125 Canal Street and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station, on Canal St. near the Mississippi River. The station was demolished in 1954 and replaced by the current

that consolidated the inter-city railroad services. Union Depot New Orleans Postcard Wagons

References

External links

Sullivan at 150
{{Louis Sullivan Demolished railway stations in the United States Louis Sullivan buildings Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Railway stations in Louisiana Railway stations in the United States opened in 1892 Railway stations closed in 1954 Union stations in the United States Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Former Illinois Central Railroad stations Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations Demolished buildings and structures in Louisiana Buildings and structures demolished in 1954