Union Station

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Union Station is a historic train depot built in 1902 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Architect Frank Pierce Milburn designed it combining the Tudor and Jacobethan Revival styles. The two-story brick building features windows with rough-stone headers, decorative brickwork, a carriage way supported by five piers with an overhang held by wires and decorative brackets underneath, and two chimneys on either end. In terms of its contribution to Charleston, Union Station played a key role in supporting the city's development in the first half of 20th century. Today, the building houses a restaurant.

Images

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad built Union Station in 1902. A good example of Tudor and Jacobethan Revival architecture, the station operated until the late 1960s.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) was a major railroad company that operated lines in the Southeast during much of the 20th century. It was founded in 1900 when a number of smaller railroads merged. Its lines ran from Richmond, Virginia to Florida, and west to Birmingham, Alabama. It reached New York City and eastern Florida using other company's railroad lines and the ports of Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, Delaware; and Norfolk, Virginia. The ACL earned a good reputation for being a well run company and was known for its unique purple color scheme. By 1928, the ACL had acquired several other railroads and operated a total of around 12,000 miles (5,575 miles of which were its own lines) of track.

The ACL and the Seaboard Air Line (SAL), another profitable railroad that operated on the east coast, were the only two railroads to offer direct passenger service from the Northeast to Florida. In 1967, the two railroads merged to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which operated for thirteen years before it merged into what is now the CSX Corporation.

A number of trains offered passenger service at Union Station. The ACL's last train to serve the station was in 1954 but it appears that the station finally closed in the late 1960s. Amtrak runs through Columbia but stops at a modern station located to the west.

Sources

"'Atlantic Coast Line: "Standard Railroad of the South.'" American-Rails. Accessed April 21, 2021. https://www.american-rails.com/acl.html.

Myers, Florence Bacher. "Union Station." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. June 19, 1973. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0427aec7-ce46-4156-af96-31f19b93179a.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Station_Columbia_left_oblique.jpg

Additional Information

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Union Station