Built 1897 NRHP Reference # 73000368 Opened 1897 | Architectural style Other, Romanesque Designated NHL December 8, 1976 Added to NRHP 24 July 1973 | |
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Architect Benjamin Bosworth Smith Address 210 Water St, Montgomery, AL 36104, USA Hours Closed now Friday8:30AM–5PMSaturday8:30AM–5PMSundayClosedMonday8:30AM–5PMTuesday8:30AM–5PMWednesday8:30AM–5PMThursday8:30AM–5PM Similar First White House of the Confe, Old Ship African Methodist, Mount Zion AME Zion Church, Grace Episcopal Church, Cleveland Court Apartmen | ||
Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed is a historic former train station in Montgomery, Alabama. Built in 1898 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 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 in 1973 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
History
Erected of brick and limestone on a high bluff along the Alabama River, the station was built by Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1898. The station also served passenger trains of Atlantic Coast Line, Western Railway of Alabama, Seaboard Air Line, Central of Georgia, and Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The station had six tracks under a 600-foot shed, with a coach yard on the south end of the station as well as a Railway Express Agency facility. The station's design segregated passengers by race and incorporated Romanesque Revival elements.
The number of passenger trains using Union Station declined during the 1950s and 1960s. When Amtrak came into existence in 1971, it continued passenger service through Montgomery with a single train (the South Wind, later renamed the Floridian), operating between Chicago and Miami. 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 The train shed still stands, although tracks under it have been replaced by asphalt parking.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 National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Amtrak returned to Montgomery in 1989 with an extension of the Crescent called the Gulf Breeze from Birmingham to Mobile, but Union Station was not used. Instead, Amtrak contracted with a travel agent who occupied a former grain silo 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.