Denver Union Station
N 39° 45.190 W 105° 00.000
13S E 500000 N 4400361
This train station is located in downtown Denver and is still active.
Waymark Code: WMJD3
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2006
Views: 173
Union Station is Denver, Colorado, USA's historic train station at 17th and Wynkoop in Denver's LoDo district. The station first opened in 1881[1]. After the original structure was destroyed by fire in 1894 it was rebuilt in Beaux-arts style and still serves passenger traffic including:
Amtrak's California Zephyr
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Ski Train, providing service between Denver and the Winter Park Ski Resort.
It is currently the northern terminus for the C Line light rail route.
Under a public/private consortium, the station and the surrounding 19.5 acres (79,000 m²) will soon be the hub of Denver's new FasTracks rail network, under the Regional Transportation District's master plan for the station site, officially known as the Denver Union Terminal. Eight teams of prominent architects, developers and engineers competed in 2002 for the massive contract to redevelop Denver Union Station into a transit-oriented retail, office and residential complex, with a budget in the range of $900 million.
No architect is credited in any of the official information on the station.
(The above text was copied from Wikipedia)
A Brief History of Denver Union Station
1870 The first train arrived in Denver's Central Platte Valley on June 21, 1870. At that time, only four small temporary stations were set up to serve passengers.
1881 The Union Depot and Railroad Company built the city's first Union Station. It cost $525,000 and opened on June 1, 1881.
1894 The original Union Station building burned on March 18, 1894, when a fire ignited the electrical system of the ladies' restroom. Damage was considerable. The building's wooden tower was destroyed. Union Station was quickly rebuilt with a much lower roofline and a stone clock tower replaced the wooden one.
1906 Denver's famous Welcome or Mizpah Arch was built in front of Union Station on 17th Street between Wynkoop and Wazee streets; the arch was formally dedicated on July 4, 1906.
1914 In 1914, the Denver Union Terminal Railway Company tore down the stone clock tower and replaced with the building's lower expanded center section that you see to this day. The original chandeliers were eight feet across. The original sconces on the wall were under coats of paint for decades. Only recently were they restored to their original bronze tone. The plaster arches that line the walls of the center room have 2300 carved Columbine flowers in them.
1920s/30s The 1920s and 1930s were the glory days of Denver Union Station. During that time, the station operated 80 trains a day.
1931 The Mizpah arch was taken down on December 7, 1931 after being deemed a traffic hazard. Presidents Eisenhower, Taft and Theodore Roosevelt are just a few of the famous people who came by train into Union Station.
1958 Up until 1958, Denver Union Station had more travelers than Stapleton Airport.
Late 1980s In the late 1980s, the Regional Transportation District (RTD) and the City of Denver cooperated with the Denver Union terminal Railway Corporation (DUT), the private owner of the terminal, to make improvements to the site. These improvements included upgrading rail platforms and canopies and accommodating an RTD bus lane to access Market Street Station from the I-25 bus/High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.
1997-2000 RTD, the City and the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) cooperated with the Union Station Transport Development Company (USTDC) and various private landowners and businesses to create the Central Platte Valley Light Rail Spur (C-Line), a major public transit connection to DUS.
2001 In August 2001, RTD purchased the site in accordance with a jointly funded Intergovernmental Agreement between RTD, the City and County of Denver (CCD), CDOT and DRCOG.
2002 In May 2002, the Denver Union Station project team was initiated by the CCD, RTD, CDOT, and DRCOG to develop a Master Plan and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Union Station.
Source: RTD and Denver Union Terminal Supervisor
Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: Yes
Is the station/depot open to the public?: Yes
If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?:
Amtrak's California Zephyr, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Ski Train, RTD C Line light rail
What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: Amtrak
Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]
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