Kansas City Union Station (Tour) - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Walt Disney and Union Station

From the time Walt Disney’s family moved to Kansas City in 1911 until the young animator left for California in 1923, Disney’s path often led him to and through Kansas City’s train stations. Walt arrived at Union Depot in the West Bottoms in 1911, and he departed Kansas City in 1923 from Union Station with a dream, a film, and not much else in his suitcase. This building played an important role in Walt’s life, from welcoming and saying goodbye to family members to one of his first jobs selling sodas and newspapers to passengers. Union Station shaped many of Walt's early memories in Kansas City influencing Disney productions and theme parks in surprising ways.

2. Union Station Stories

Dedicated on October 31st, 2014 for the centennial anniversary of Union Station, this self-guided exhibit tells the story of the station from its conception through construction, opening, operation, degradation, and restoration. Offering sweeping 2nd and 3rd-storey views, Union Station Stories provides rich context and stunning vantages of a l living piece of history. The exhibit entrance is inside the Southwest Elevator Chamber near the Pershing Street entrance.

3. Fred Harvey's Sign, Haverty Railroad Gallery, and Railroad China Collection

Union Station continues to serve rail passengers via Amtrak, which returned to Union Station after departing in 1985. Next to the Amtrak waiting room is a historic sign for Fred Harvey's restaurant chain which once operated throughout the region. Perhaps the first true chain restaurant in American history, Fred Harvey's railroad depots thrived because they met a need in an era when travelers had few dining options. Fred Harvey pioneered a model that served travelers quickly and efficiently, and his methods were soon repeated at depots along the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad. Nearbye are a display of custom flatware from the individual likes and the Haverty Railroad Gallery, both displaying images and items from a moment in American History when rail travel was an elegant, sophisticated, and elevated means of transportation.

4. Model Train Exhibit & Haverty Freight House Bridge

Originally a holiday display in the Grand Hall, Union Station's Model Train Exhibit outgrew its space and moved to a dedicated, year-round location at the north end of the Grand Plaza. Run entirely by volunteers, the model rails fill all available room as the trains wind through representations of many iconic locations in Kansas City. Nearby, visitors can access the Haverty Freight House Bridge, which spans the historic Union Station railyards and provides a walkway to the Crossroads District.

5. Grand Plaza, Union Station

For decades, Union Station’s Grand Plaza was the first and last glimpse of Kansas City travelers saw as they arrived and departed by train. This earned the sprawling room, and the station as a whole, the title of “Kansas City’s Front Porch.” Following the restoration of Union Station, the Grand Plaza has become one of the most sought-after event spaces in town.

6. Jarvis Hunt Room and Postal Service Exhibit

Named in honor of Jarvis Hunt, the Chicago-based architect who designed Union Station, this space at the northwest corner of Grand Hall was home to a men's smoking lounge. The space is now utilized for banquets and meetings. The room features some of Union's Station's historic chandeliers and marble floors. Jarvis Hunt designed numerous structures throughout the nation, including some of Kansas City's current landmarks like the Kansas City Star Building and the Commerce Trust Building. Just south of the Jarvis Hunt Room is an exhibit highlighting the connection between Union Station and the postal service. The utilization of railroads to move mail, especially after the completion of transcontinental routes, changed the way in which the people of the eastern and western United States communicated. After the completion of Union Station, most of the mail crossing the country passed through Kansas City. This exhibit highlights the advances that were made to both increase the efficiency of the process and to protect the health of Rail Post Office (RPO) workers. Established by the Government Employees Heath Association (GEHA) in collaboration with Union Station, the exhibit was dedicated on November 19, 2020.

7. Grand Hall and Harvey's Restaurant

Visitors to Kansas City following its opening in 1914 considered Union Station's Grand Hall to be the city's front porch. For nearly anyone in that era, Union Station was the first impression and final memory for those traveling to or from the city. Following a $250 million restoration funded by a sales tax levy and private investment, the station reopened in 1999 with a variety of restaurants and attractions. The central feature of Grand Hall is Harvery's Restaurant, a nod to the influence of Kansas City-area railroad restaurant innovator Fred Harvey.

8. Officer's Memorial, Kansas City Massacre (1933) and Union Station's Lamp Post Clock

In the 1920s and early 1930s, before the devastating effects of the Great Depression really took the country by storm, the United States was going through a “golden period.” Alcohol may have been prohibited, but the national fervor was widely apparent. Along with Prohibition, however, organized crime in New York and Chicago put millions of dollars in the hands of criminals and murderers, and well into the 1930s, organized crime often resulted in several grueling, bloody events. On the morning of June 17th, 1933, infamous gangster Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd and two other constituents, Vernon Miller and Adam Richetti, murdered four police officers and a prisoner in front of the Union Railway Station in Kansas City. This mass murder shocked the nation and drew significant exposure to the nature of organized crime, and this act thereafter changed many of the standard procedures of the FBI. Just south of the marker honoring the officers who perished in the Kansas City Massacre is a stately outdoor clock that was located at 10th and Main in the 1880s.

This Tour is a Virtual Museum or Site Tour.

Kansas City Union Station

Created by David J. Trowbridge on July 1st 2016, 6:18:18 am.

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Description

The third-largest railroad station in the country when it was completed in 1914, Kansas City's Union Station has been restored to its former grandeur and offers a variety of educational and cultural attractions, including Science City, theaters, restaurants, retail shops, office space, and museum exhibits. The Beaux-Arts style building, noted for its colossal size and fine ornamentation, was part of the "City Beautiful Movement" to develop more green spaces and aesthetically pleasing public facilities in Kansas City. The station served as the heart of city's booming transportation industry in the early twentieth century, when the Kansas City was at the intersection of multiple railroads. During its peak, over 200 trains passed through the Union Station daily. The facility experienced a period of decline and deterioration from the 1950s to the 1980s as passenger rail traffic collapsed. Community efforts starting in the 1990s led to a $250 million project to restore the station and revitalize it as a major commercial and educational center. It serves as a model for the potential of adaptive reuse in historical structures. Union Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

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