A Brief History of Union Station
Washington, D.C.'s Union Station was built jointly by the Pennsylvania (PRR) and Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroads on an area of swampland near the U.S. Capitol Building. The station, designed by architect Daniel Burnham, opened with the arrival of a B&O Railroad passenger train from Pittsburgh on October 27, 1907. A magnificent gateway to our nation's capital, the station has served the needs of the traveling public continuously since that year.
Besides the B&O and PRR, the station also served the Chesapeake & Ohio, Southern, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac (RF & P), Atlantic Coast Line, and Seaboard Railroads. During World War II as many as 100,000 passengers a day passed through the station.
During the 1980's the station underwent a major renovation, costing over $160 Million Dollars. Completed in 1988, the effort restored the station's grandeur and remade it into a transportation, shopping, and dining megaplex.
The station is now served by Amtrak, VRE, MARC, and Metro (red line).
There is an excellent book on the station called "Union Station A History of Washington's Grand Terminal" by Carol M. Highsmith and Ted Landphair.
* Interior Photo by J. Lilly
* Exterior Photo by Mary Ries
* Acela picture by Ray Pallesch
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