![]() There is a large parking garage attached and a cab rank out front. It’s a 5-10 minute walk from the US Capitol Building, has quite a few stores, several nice restaurants, and a large food court (and cinemas) in the lower level. ![]() Strangely enough, the best way to get to Union Station is by train or metro (Red line). I don’t recommend trying to book a flight from there. Oddly, Union Station actually has its own airport code: ZWU. Travel+Leisure Magazine also ranked Union Station as the world’s third most-visited tourist attraction, although I suspect that’s lumping together tourists just visiting the station and the vast majority of people who are using it as a functional transportation hub. Louis and includes additional stops in Independence, Lees Summit, Warrensburg, Sedalia, Jefferson City, Hermann, Washington and Kirkwood. Something like 100,000 people use Union Station on any given day (presumably that includes the metro station in the facility as well), with about 20,000 passing through the Main Hall. There are actually many union stations around the United States and it refers to a station originally owned by two or more rail companies. 3Īnd despite its stately architecture, location, and the statues of Roman sentries lining the walls inside the massive main concourse, the “Union” in “Union Station” doesn’t have anything to do with the Civil War. There’s also a twice-actual-size replica of Philadelphia’s famous Liberty Bell this one’s called the Freedom Bell and dates to the 1980s. Out front is the Columbus Fountain (1912 Lorado Taft) celebrating Christopher Columbus, credited as the European who discovered the Americas. The baroque-style building was designed by architect Daniel Burnham, the very same Daniel Burnham who designed the Flatiron Building in New York and the so-called White City of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and featured as one of the main protagonists in Erik Larson’s bestseller The Devil in the White City.Ītop the archives on the outside are a series of statues of Roman gods (1908 Louis Saint-Gaudens). It was reopened in 1988 after a massive, $160 million renovation effort funded by a combination of public and private moneys that created the station we see today which is a showcase blend of form and function. In the 1960s and 1970s, despite an effort to create a National Visitors Center at the station for events related to the bicentennial celebrations, the station fell into disrepair and was closed for much of the 1980s. Woodrow Wilson both contributed to the war effort by working in the canteen there. In addition to the many troops who passed through, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. 1ĭuring World War I, it was one of the main hubs for the mobilization effort. It was designed as a grand entrance to the capital of a growing nation. When it was completed in 1908, in an era where rail was the main mode of intercity transport, Union Station was the portal for just about anyone coming to DC from afar. But the lavish Union Station, not far from the US Capitol Building, is one of the few that does. Not just any old train station makes for an entirely appropriate venue for a black-tie presidential inaugural ball.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |