Kansas City Union Station (station code: KCY) is a union station opened in 1914, serving Kansas City, Missouri, and the surrounding metropolitan area. It replaced a small Union Depot from 1878. Union Station served a peak annual traffic of more than 670,000 passengers in 1945 at the end of World War II, quickly declined in the 1950s, and was closed in 1985.
In 1996, a public–private partnership undertook a US$250 million restoration, funded in part by a sales tax levied in Kansas and Missouricounties of the Kansas City metropolitan area.[3] By 1999, the station reopened as a suite of attractions, including museums. In 2002, Union Station returned to train service, when Amtrak began public transportation services, and became Missouri's second-busiest train station. The refurbished station has theaters, ongoing museum exhibits, and attractions such as Science City, the Irish Museum and Cultural Center, and the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity. Since 2016, it is a stop for the KC Streetcar.
History
Union Depot era
Union Depot, c. 1880
On April 8, 1878, Union Depot opened on a narrow triangle of land in Kansas City, Missouri between Union Avenue and the railroad tracks of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in what became West Bottoms.[4][5] Nicknamed the "Jackson County Insane Asylum" by those who thought it was too large, it was the second union station in the country,[5] after the Indianapolis Union Station. Union Depot's architecture was a hybrid of Second Empire and Gothic Revival. The lead architect was Asa Beebe Cross who "adorned the exterior of the building with intricate towers of varying heights, arched windows framed in stone and rows of dormers projecting from the steeply pitched mansard roof";[5] it had a clock tower above the main entrance that was 125 feet (38 m) in height. By the 20th century, over 180 trains were passing daily through the station, serving a city population which had tripled.[5] In 1903, the lack of room for expansion and a major flood[6] led the city and the railroads to decide a new station was required.
Union Station era
A large crowd gathered in front of Union Station for the 1921 dedication of the Liberty Memorial site.
The new location was chosen at a valley at 25th Street and Grand Avenue used by the Kansas City Belt Railway. It was south of the central business district, above and away from the floodplain.[5] Architect Jarvis Hunt was a proponent of the City Beautiful movement.[7] The Beaux-Arts architecture design was a main hall for ticketing, and a perpendicular hall extending out above the tracks for passenger waiting. The building encompassed 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2), the ceiling in the Grand Hall is 95 feet (29 m) high, there are three chandeliers weighing 3,500 pounds (1600 kg) each, and the Grand Hall clock face is 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter.[8] The building's scale reflects Kansas City's central location as a hub for both passenger and freight rail traffic.[citation needed]
The station opened on October 30, 1914, as the third-largest train station in the country.[8]
The Kansas City massacre was on June 17, 1933, in front of Union Station, while captured fugitive Frank Nash was to be delivered to prison via train. Four lawmen (including FBI) were murdered by the Kansas City crime family with Tommy guns, in an attempt to free Nash,[9] who was also killed in the gun battle. The massacre highlighted the lawlessness of Kansas City under the Pendergast Machine and resulted in the arming of all FBI agents.[9]
Decline of train traffic
In 1945, annual passenger traffic peaked at 678,363. Demand for a large train station reduced since the 1950s. In 1973, it had 32,842 passengers, all passenger train service was now run by Amtrak, and the building was deteriorating. Kansas City government wished to preserve and redevelop the building, so, in 1974, it made a development deal with Canadian redeveloper Trizec Corporation.[10] Between 1979 and 1986, Trizec constructed two office buildings on surrounding property, but did not redevelop the station. The deteriorating station closed in 1983, except a "bubble" inside the main hall housing Amtrak's operations until 1985, when all passenger operations were moved to a smaller "Amshack" facility adjacent to the old station. In 1988, the city sued Trizec for the failure to develop the station and settled in 1994.[10] For most of this period, the building continued to decay.
Restoration
Fountains are in the street in front of Union Station (2012).The Grand Hall is inside the entrance (2011).The Grand Plaza or North Waiting Room is beyond the Grand Hall (2011).
In 1996, residents in five counties throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area in both Kansas and Missouri approved the so-called "bistate tax", a 1/8 of a cent sales tax,[11] part of which helped to fund just under half of the $250 million restoration of Union Station.[10] Renovation began in 1997 and was completed in 1999. The remaining money was raised through private donations and federal funding. The renovations enabled Amtrak to move its operations back inside the main building in 2002.
Union Station receives no public funding. Operating costs are funded by general admission and theater ticketing, grants, corporate and private donations, commercial space leases, and facility rental. Union Station Kansas City, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which manages Union Station and which previously managed the Kansas City Museum.[12] Union Station hosts Science City (opened in 1999), a family-friendly interactive science center with more than 50 hands-on exhibits;[13] the H&R Block City Stage Theater, a live-action venue with productions for all ages; the Regnier Extreme Screen, the largest movie screen in the region at five and half stories tall; two restaurants, including Pierponts, an upscale steak and seafood restaurant, and Harvey's, many shops; the Gottlieb Planetarium, the largest planetarium in the area; and various temporary museum exhibits including the internationally acclaimed Dead Sea Scrolls in 2007, Bodies Revealed in 2008, Dialog in the Dark in 2009, Dinosaurs Unearthed in 2010 and Diana, A Celebration focusing upon Princess Diana in 2011. The Irish Museum and Cultural Center has been located in the station since March 17, 2007.[14]
On February 14, 2024, another mass shooting occurred in front of Union Station, in which one person was killed and 22 others were injured immediately after the Super Bowl LVIII victory parade and rally honoring the Kansas City Chiefs.[18]
Of the twelve Missouri stations served by Amtrak, Kansas City was the second busiest in the 2015 fiscal year, boarding or disembarking an average 421 passengers daily.[19]
Gallery
A typical crowd in the Grand Hall of the new Union Station, c. 1950s
Norfolk and Western's City of St. Louis at Union Station in 1967
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A typical crowd in the Grand Hall of the new Union Station, c. 1950s
Norfolk and Western's City of St. Louis at Union Station in 1967
Loading platform, 1974
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