The Union Depot in Chattanooga, constructed between 1857-1859, served as a train car shed in Chattanooga, TN.
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It stood at Broad Street and Ninth Street, which is now Martin Luther King Blvd.
The depot linked the Western and Atlantic Railroad, Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad.
Modifications were added in 1868 and 1881 to include offices and waiting rooms. The train car shed was in use during and after the Civil War. After failed efforts to preserve the structure, the Union Depot was torn down in 1972.
History
The Union Depot was constructed of limestone and brick; the bricks used were made by slaves. The center line of the train car shed was the boundary line between the Western & Atlantic Railway and the Nashville & Chattanooga Railway. During the Civil War, the train car shed was used as an army hospital. A head house was added in 1882, and the south end was demolished and replaced with butterfly sheds in 1926. In 1900, Georgian marble floors were added to the building, which was appropriate because Georgia owned the land that the Union Depot stood on.
There was disagreement over the facility' ownership. The courts ultimately ruled in favor of Georgia, and determined that the Western & Atlantic Railway and the Nashville & Chattanooga Railway were the rightful owners. The debate over ownership resulted in the organization of the Chattanooga Station Company in 1905. The company was formed by the three lines of the Southern Railway System and the Central of Georgia Railway.
Restoration efforts and destruction
In 1971, an English class from UTC taught by Dr. Tom Preston proposed a visionary plan to save the Union Depot from demolition. The plan proposed restoration and utilization as the center of a midtown mall. The class presented a paper and a video to the Chattanooga City Commission on July 19, 1971. Mayor Robert Kirk Walker recommended that the students take their presentation to the Downtown Development Committee. The Chattanooga Area Historical Association joined the fight to save the Union Depot in November 1971. However, on September 26, 1971, Georgia decided to sell some of the land it owned, including the depot site. The structure was torn down the following year: the site currently houses office buildings. A historical marker was placed at the location of the Union Depot.