History
Between 1866 and 1971, Omaha was served by a succession of different station buildings reflecting Omaha's growing importance as the nation's fourth-largest railroad center. The 801 South Tenth Street site hosted two different buildings before the currently existing station. The first station was a "cowshed" station that was dismantled in 1890. Financial concerns kept a new station from being constructed for the next eight years and a temporary depot was used on the site. The pressure was on to build a new station in conjunction with the development of the neighboring Burlington Station, and with the impending start of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition.
The second depot was designed by Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost, and construction began in October, 1898. Completed on December 1, 1899 at a cost of $405,782, the building's façade rose 60 feet (18 m) above the Tenth Street Viaduct the building faced. It was primarily built from pressed brick made in Omaha, as well as Bedford stone used in the architectural details. A canopy of glass and iron protected passengers from the elements as they entered the station, and three synchronized clocks were visible both day and night from different directions. The tracks had the modern innovation of interlocking switches on all tracks approaching or serving the station.
Read more about this topic: Union Station (Omaha)
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—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)