Oklahoma City Union Depot is a building in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

that served as a "

union station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

" from 1931 until 1967. It was listed on 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 1979. It now houses the main office of the Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority.

History

Oklahoma City Union Station was built as part of a plan to move surface rail lines and passenger stations of the Rock Island and Frisco railroads out of downtown Oklahoma City. Grade-separating the tracks of the Santa Fe was also part of the plan. Bonds were issued by the city government to repurchase the rights of way of the Frisco and Rock Island and to pay for new civic buildings on the vacated land. Prior to the construction of Union Station, the Rock Island had its depot on North Broadway between West 1st and West 2nd Streets. The Frisco had its passenger facilities a few blocks to the west between West Main and West 1st Streets fronting on North Hudson Street. The previous stations were last used on November 30, 1930, with passenger traffic being moved to a temporary station at the foot of South Hudson Street the next day. The Santa Fe Depot remained in use, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad also continued using its own station. The depot closed to the public in 1967 following the discontinuance of the last passenger trains serving Oklahoma City. Frisco passenger train service ended in May 1967 and Rock Island passenger train service ended in November 1967.

Architecture and station facilities

The terminal building, with on its main floor, is a sprawling, generous California Spanish

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

style. The structure included many elegant touches (small courtyards and alcoves with fountains and gardens surrounding the station building). Passengers accessed the original 12-track station through tunnels via a ramp from the depot's waiting room. Mail and express shipments were also routed under the station to the surface passenger platforms. Traffic on Hudson and Harvey streets met the trains "at grade," enabling passenger access and exchange of mail and express freight between trucks and trains. Traffic on Robinson and Walker streets used underpasses built as part of the station complex. Freight warehouses and material handling areas were located behind the passenger facilities.

Tenant railroads

Union Station was served by two different railroads. *The Rock Island, whose east-west route from

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tucumcari Tucumcari (; ) is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,278 at the 2020 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was established. History In 1901, the Chicago, ...

hosted several passenger trains, including: **the ''

Choctaw Rocket The ''Choctaw Rocket'' was a named passenger train operated by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad between Memphis, Tennessee, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Amarillo. Initially designated as train No. 51 (westbound) and train No. 52 ...

'' (Memphis - Amarillo) and unnamed local service (Memphis - Tucumcari) *The Frisco railroad operated trains such as the ''

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

'' (St. Louis - Springfield, Tulsa - Oklahoma City), the ''

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

'' (Kansas City - Oklahoma City) and the ''Will Rogers'' (St. Louis - Springfield, Tulsa - Oklahoma City) all through Tulsa to the northeast. Other Frisco trains operated between

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

Quanah, Texas Quanah is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 2,641, down from 3,022 at the 2000 census. Quanah is northwest of Fort Worth and south of the Red River, which forms ...

via Lawton. These lines last saw passenger service in the 1960s with many sections saved from abandonment by the

Oklahoma Department of Transportation The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is an government agency, agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for the construction and maintenance of the state's transportation infrastructure. Under the leadership of the Oklahoma Sec ...

and operated by

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

Controversy

In the 1980s the facility was purchased by the city of

to become a multimodal transportation center at a cost of $1.8 million, with $1.2 million being a grant from the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

. As part the

I-40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

Crosstown Realignment, the former yard tracks were replaced by the new highway. Space for two rail tracks in the station has been preserved as has the depot itself. This realignment was unsuccessfully challenged by several organizations (

OnTrac OnTrac is a privately held logistics company that contracts regional shipping services in the Western United States. History The company was founded in California in 1991 as California Overnight and was formed from acquisitions of several smal ...

, North American Transportation Institute,

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...

). This realignment will add an additional 10 lanes of road through downtown Oklahoma City while the current corridor becomes an at-grade boulevard. On 6/5/2008 the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

stated that

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

falsified an application and ruled against the realignment. BNSF filed a petition to bypass hearings and debate all together to force the realignment

References

{{NRHP in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

Buildings and structures in Oklahoma City Railway stations in the United States opened in 1931 Transportation in Oklahoma City Economy of Oklahoma City Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma

Towers in Oklahoma

Mission Revival architecture in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma City