Early History
The first railroad to reach Indianapolis was the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, which began service there in 1847. Competing railroads began connecting Indianapolis to other locations, but each had its own station in various parts of the young city, creating problems for passengers and freight alike. This problem was common to many U.S. cities, but Indianapolis was the first to solve it with a union station, which all railroads were to use. In August 1849, the Union Railway Company was formed, and it began to lay tracks to connect the various railroads. Then in 1853, it built a large brick train shed at the point where all the lines met, becoming the first union station in the United States.
As Indianapolis and its railroad traffic grew, the limitations of the original structure became increasingly obvious. In 1886, Thomas Rodd was hired. At the time, Rodd was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, but did independent civil engineering and architectural projects on the side. The new station was completed in 1888, and in 1893 approximately 25,000 passengers rode an average of 120 passenger trains daily.
By 1900 over 200 trains a day were serviced, forcing the station to eventually build an expansive elevated platform (1915-1922) so as not to interfere with regular street traffic. It was once second only to Chicago's Union Station as a Midwest railroad hub.
Read more about this topic: Indianapolis Union Station
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