Terre Haute Union Station
Union Station was designed by Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford. The station was a three and a half story structure built in the Romanesque style. Originally, it served the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad and the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad (which was bought by the Pennsylvania Railroad three days after Union Station opened), as it was at the junction of the two lines. The station also served the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the ‘Milwaukee Road’). The last Milwaukee Road service was a short line route to Bedford, Indiana to the southeast. The company moved its last service out of the station in the 1930s.
Barbara Carney, a railroad museum administrator, said that Buffalo Bill, Jack Benny, and presidents Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Richard Nixon all stopped at Union Station at some point.
The station was demolished in the middle of June, 1960, with a crowd of approximately 1,000 observing the event. In subsequent years, the adjacent Railway Express Agency building served as the passenger station, and was later the site of the African American Culture Center at Indiana State University.
Passenger service of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad was withdrawn in 1968, and Penn Central ended service on February 28, 1969 after the remaining passenger trains were moved to the ex-New York Central Railroad line.
Named passenger trains serving Union Station
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, in 1954, daily departures, except where marked *:
- Dixie Flagler* (Chicago - Miami)
- Dixie Flyer (Chicago - Jacksonville)
- Georgian (Chicago – Atlanta)
- Humming Bird (Chicago – New Orleans)
- Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1953, daily departures:
- Allegheny (eastbound only) (St. Louis – New York)
- American (St. Louis – New York)
- Mail and Express (westbound only) (Pittsburgh – St. Louis)
- Penn Texas (St. Louis – New York)
- Spirit of St. Louis (St. Louis – New York)
- St. Louisan (St. Louis – New York)
See also
References
- ^ Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT" (PDF). The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 12. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ McCormick, Mike, ‘Terre Haute Tribune-Star,’ April 5, 2001, ‘Wabash Valley Profiles: Union Station.’ https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vchs/id/593
- ^ "Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad". Official Guide of the Railways. 64 (9). National Railway Publication Company. February 1932.
- ^ "Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad". Official Guide of the Railways. 71 (3). National Railway Publication Company. December 1938.
- ^ Powell, Dianne F.D., ‘Terre Haute Tribune-Star,’ October 2, 2014, ‘Railroad Industry Helped Put Terre Haute ‘on the map’.’ https://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/railroad-industry-helped-put-terre-haute-on-the-map/article_4f9b47c1-f621-5079-aa4c-613402b81e8b.html
- ^ Shawn Rogers, ‘Terre Haute Tribune-Star,’ June 19, 2010, ‘Looking Back: 1960: Workers Dynamite the Union Station Tower.’ https://www.tribstar.com/news/lifestyles/looking-back-1960-workers-dynamite-the-union-station-tower/article_4ce0629d-017e-5f6a-a5c7-266672b98ee1.html
- ^ Louisville & Nashville timetable, Fall 1954, Tables E, F
- ^ "Pennsylvania Railroad, Table 152". Official Guide of the Railways. 86 (7). National Railway Publication Company. December 1953.
- ^ Pennsylvania Railroad timetable, August 6, 1950, Tables 10, 14 http://streamlinermemories.info/PRR/PRR50TT.pdf