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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Union Station (Portland, Maine)
Union Station was a train station in the Libbytown neighborhood of Portland, Maine, which operated from 1888 to 1960. Located on St. John Street, it was demolished in 1961 and is now the site of a strip mall.

History

Union Station Plaza, which now occupies the former site of the station

Designed by Boston architects Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell, the station building was inspired by the designs of medieval French châteaux. It was a primarily granite building, with a 188-foot (57 m) clock tower. The union station opened on June 25, 1888, serving trains of the Boston and Maine, Maine Central, and Portland and Ogdensburg railroads, although the Grand Trunk Railway continued to use a different station two miles away on India Street.

The Maine Central ended passenger rail service to the station in September 1960, and it closed on October 30, when the Boston and Maine moved its remaining trains out of the facility. On August 31, 1961, the train station was demolished, and a strip mall built on the property. Nevertheless, the Boston and Maine continued multiple daily trains from Portland itself to Boston until 1965.

Preservation group Greater Portland Landmarks was formed in 1964, in response to the station's demolition.

Passenger trains

Noteworthy trains into the 1950s and in some cases to 1960:

  • Boston and Maine:
  • Boston and Maine and Maine Central Railroad
    • Bar Harbor Express (Ellsworth-Washington, DC) (summer only):
    • Flying Yankee (Bangor-Boston, via Lewiston)
    • Gull (Halifax-Boston via Lewiston)
    • Penobscot (Bangor-Boston via Augusta)
    • Pine Tree (Bangor-Boston via Augusta)
  • Maine Central Railroad:
    • unnamed trains to Bangor via Lewiston, to Bangor via Augusta, to Rockland, to Calais via Ellsworth, to Farmington, to Montreal via North Conway

A proposal to move Amtrak's Downeaster service from the Portland Transportation Center to a site near Union Station's original location has been endorsed by the Maine Department of Transportation.

See also