Union Station, St. Louis, Missouri
Posted by: 
hykesj
N 38° 37.806 W 090° 12.480
15S E 743038 N 4279428
St. Louis’ Union Station first opened its doors on Sept. 1, 1894. The first train arrived on Sept.2 and this postal card was issued on Sept. 3 (1994 that is, 100 years and one day later).
Waymark Code: WMY641
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2018
Views: 11
Serving the City of St. Louis, which had become known as “the Gateway to the West,” Union Station was one of the largest train stations in the world. At the height of rail traffic in America, as many as 100,000 passengers per day passed through Union Station on 22 different railroad lines. The building seen on the stamp, sported a large waiting room/ticketing area covered by a majestic vaulted ceiling (typical of large train stations of the era). It also featured a hotel, a restaurant and a 280 ft. high clock tower. But all that only represented a small fraction of the station’s overall size which also included an 11½ acre train shed.
With the advent of passenger air travel, rail service declined precipitously. By the late 1970s, only a few passenger trains per day were passing through St. Louis. Union Station officially ceased operations after the last train departed for Chicago on October 31, 1978. (You can still get to St. Louis by train – Amtrak operates a small station several blocks away next to the actual main line.)
Today, the main building (which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970) has been repurposed as a luxury hotel. Other areas of the former train station contain a museum and a Ferris wheel. Also planned for the future are renovations to the former train shed and an aquarium.
The stamp on the postal card shows Union Station as seen from Aloe Plaza behind a sculpture group and fountain called “The Meeting of the Waters.” This sculpture, designed by Carl Milles, caused a little controversy when it was unveiled in the 1930s due to several nude figures. The USPS avoided any controversy by cropping the sculpture off the image on the card but the streams of water from the fountain are still clearly visible.
St. Louis’ Union Station has one other philatelic connection: The famous photographs of Harry Truman holding up the newspaper with the headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” were taken here at this train station. One of these photos was reproduced on a 1999 postage stamp.
Stamp Issuing Country: United States
Date of Issue: 3-Sep-1994
Denomination: 19 cents
Color: multicolored
Stamp Type: Single Stamp
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
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