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Montgomery, AL
inter-city rail station
Montgomery Union Station, c. 1900
General information
Location	Montgomery, Alabama USA
History
Opened	1898
Closed	1979
Former services (at 1989-1995 station)
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Greenvilletoward Mobile Gulf Breeze BirminghamTerminus
Former services (at Union Station)
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Dothantoward St. Petersburg or Miami Floridian Birminghamtoward Chicago Preceding station Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Following station Terminus Montgomery – Waycross Spraguetoward Waycross Preceding station Central of Georgia Railway Following station Terminus Montgomery – Smithville Keytontoward Smithville Preceding station Louisville and Nashville Railroad Following station McGeheestoward New Orleans Main Line Jackson's Laketoward Cincinnati Preceding station Seaboard Air Line Railroad Following station Terminus Montgomery – Savannah Merrytoward Savannah Preceding station West Point Route Following station Terminus Main Line Madisontoward Atlanta
Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Coordinates	32°22′50″N 86°18′51″W / 32.38056°N 86.31417°W / 32.38056; -86.31417
Built	1897
Architect	Benjamin Bosworth Smith
Architectural style	Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	73000368
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1973
Designated NHL	December 8, 1976

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 (L&N) 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-long (180 m) 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.

L&N trains using the station included the Azalean, Florida Arrow, Humming Bird, Pan-American and South Wind. Traditionally, the Southern Railway's Crescent and Piedmont Limited were routed through the station.

The number of passenger trains using Union Station declined during the 1950s and 1960s. The last Southern Railway train, the Crescent, left in 1970 when that train was rerouted north through Birmingham. The Pan American ended in 1971 when the L&N yielded passenger operations to Amtrak. 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, for its importance in the state's railroad transportation history, and for the train shed, a rare surviving example of a 19th-century gable-roofed shed (most of which were later replaced by balloon sheds).

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 hosted the Montgomery Area Visitor Center, until it moved to its current location at 1 Court Square.

Gallery

• Looking West, Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed
• Union Station Train Shed, 1974
• Union Station Train Shed, 1974
• Union Station Train Shed, 1987
• Union Station in 2008
• The interior of the train shed in 2008.
• Aerial view of the station (2010)

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Alabama

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. ^ "Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
3. Zembala, Dennis M. Zembala (August 2, 1976), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Louisville & Nashville Railroad: Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed/Montgomery Union Station (pdf), National Park Service and "Accompanying 5 photos, exterior and interior, from 1925, 1970, 1972, and 1974". (1.87 MB)

External links

• http://www.visitingmontgomery.com Archived 2014-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AL-1, "Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Union Station Train Shed, Water Street, opposite Lee Street, Montgomery, Montgomery County, AL", 18 photos, 3 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
• HAER No. AL-2, "Union Station, Water Street, Montgomery, Montgomery County, AL", 10 photos, 1 data page, 1 photo caption page

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Alabama
National Historic Landmarks	Alabama State Capitol Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed United States Post Office and Courthouse – Montgomery
Historic districts	Alabama State University Historic District City of St. Jude Historic District Cloverdale Historic District Cottage Hill Historic District Court Square–Dexter Avenue Historic District Dowe Historic District Garden District Huntingdon College Campus Historic District Lower Commerce Street Historic District Maxwell Air Force Base Senior Officers' Quarters Historic District North Lawrence–Monroe Street Historic District Ordeman–Shaw Historic District Perry Street Historic District South Perry Street Historic District
Other properties	Bell Building Brame House Patrick Henry Brittan House Building 800–Austin Hall Building 836–Community College of the Air Force Building Cassimus House Cleveland Court Apartments 620–638 Jefferson Davis Hotel Edgewood First White House of the Confederacy Gay House Gerald–Dowdell House Governor's Mansion Grace Episcopal Church Harrington Archaeological Site Jefferson Franklin Jackson House Jere Shine Site Gov. Thomas G. Jones House McBryde–Screws–Tyson House Mt. Zion AME Zion Church Muklassa The Murphy House Old Ship African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Opp Cottage Pastorium, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Pepperman House Powder Magazine St. John's Episcopal Church Sayre Street School Scott Street Firehouse Semple House Shepherd Building Smith–Joseph–Stratton House Stay House Steiner–Lobman and Teague Hardware Buildings Stone Plantation Tankersley Rosenwald School Dr. C.A. Thigpen House Tulane Building Tyson–Maner House Winter Building Winter Place William Lowndes Yancey Law Office
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Montgomery County, Alabama and List of National Historic Landmarks in Alabama

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Lists by county	Autauga Baldwin Barbour Bibb Blount Bullock Butler Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Chilton Choctaw Clarke Clay Cleburne Coffee Colbert Conecuh Coosa Covington Crenshaw Cullman Dale Dallas DeKalb Elmore Escambia Etowah Fayette Franklin Geneva Greene Hale Henry Houston Jackson Jefferson Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Lee Limestone Lowndes Macon Madison Marengo Marion Marshall Mobile Monroe Montgomery Morgan Perry Pickens Pike Randolph Russell St. Clair Shelby Sumter Talladega Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Walker Washington Wilcox Winston
Lists by city	Birmingham Mobile
Other lists	Bridges Multiple Property Submissions National Historic Landmarks
Keeper of the Register History of the National Register of Historic Places Property types Historic district Contributing property

• National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery, Alabama
• Buildings and structures in Montgomery, Alabama
• Former Amtrak stations in Alabama
• Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama
• National Historic Landmarks in Alabama
• Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1898
• Union stations in the United States
• Transportation in Montgomery, Alabama
• Romanesque Revival architecture in Alabama
• Former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad stations
• Former Seaboard Air Line Railroad stations
• Former Mobile and Ohio Railroad stations
• Former Louisville and Nashville Railroad stations
• Former Central of Georgia Railway stations
• Railroad-related National Historic Landmarks
• Transportation buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Alabama
• Railway stations in the United States closed in 1979