Indianapolis Union Station - History After World War II

History After World War II

After World War II, intercity passenger rail travel in the United States began to decline. Throughout the 1960s and well into the post-Amtrak era the number of train passengers declined to such a trickle that in cities where rail stations didn't serve commuter traffic, most were allowed to physically decline to a point where many were closed and some demolished. Indianapolis' Union Station almost suffered that fate. By the late 1970s, vagrants and vandals had taken over much of the facility and there were numerous police and fire runs made to the cavernous building. So local business and political leaders began looking for some way to preserve this historic structure and transform it into a vital part of the city again.

The station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 1982.

In 1984 the facility began to be converted from primary use as a railroad station to a festival marketplace by Woollen, Molzan and Partners, opening as such in 1986. Union Station became a collection of restaurants, nightclubs, and specialty stores; which included an NBC Store and a model train retailer. The eastern end of the former train platform area featured a large food court, plus several self-contained bars and nightclubs. Throughout the facility there were erected several statues of individuals who might have been seen in the railroad station in older years. A Crowne Plaza Hotel took up much of the western portion of the train shed, with twenty six of its rooms being housed within old Pullman cars.

However, in 1997 the marketplace era concluded with the departure of the last non-hotel and non-transportation tenant, a Hooters restaurant, which relocated to another nearby downtown building. The September 1995 opening of the Circle Centre Mall, just a block to the north, had drawn off the overwhelming majority of Union Station's retail customers. A planned pedestrian bridge between these two structures was denied by officials for historic preservation reasons, and a direct underground connection was deemed to be not economically feasible. So the City of Indianapolis was forced to take ownership of Union Station and began to try to find another reuse for much of the building. After some time, they began leasing out space for a wide variety of purposes, including for office use and as an indoor go-kart track.

In 2002, 21st Century Charter School was started within the facility. The still-successful hotel expanded to take up a larger portion of the building. Additional companies and organizations began to inquire about and lease space in the station. In 2006 tenants included the following: Bands of America, Consulate of Mexico (which has since relocated elsewhere downtown), Indiana Museum of African American History, Japan-America Society of America, and the Indiana Pacers academy (another charter school). Many of the building's internal directories still use Spanish as well as English, reflecting the demographic changes in Indianapolis, as well as being a left over from the days when the building housed the Mexican Consulate. The Grand Hall of Union Station is also rented out for banquets and other special events, such as a Magic: The Gathering prerelease party.

In January 2011, a new underground walkway between the newly-expanded Indiana Convention Center (ICC) and nearby Lucas Oil Stadium opened. It also contains a connection to the Crowne Plaza hotel at the west end of Union Station. This climate-controlled pedestrian path replaces an old, above-ground link between the hotel and the now demolished RCA (née Hoosier) Dome, which itself was once part of the ICC and stood where the new wing of the convention center is now situated.

As to the actual passenger train service in today's Indianapolis, it is very limited. Several Amtrak trains a week to Washington, DC and Chicago (the Cardinal and Hoosier State) stop at the station. Passengers board from a waiting area in the southern portion of Union Station's old train shed, at street level along Illinois Street, it is co-located with the city's Greyhound bus depot, making this a multi-modal transportation hub, albeit a small one. As of early 2011, there is still no commuter or light rail service in Indianapolis, but it has long been envisioned that Union Station will serve as a possible hub if and when such services are finally established.