Biography of Asa Beebe Cross (1826-1894), Architect, by Daniel Coleman.Union Depot Profile, by Asa Beebe Cross.Read a building profile of Union Depot, prepared for the Missouri Valley Special Collections: ![]() The building was razed in 1915, and the bawdy area surrounding it quickly vanished. The next day, October 31, the last train passed out of old Union Depot. On October 30, 1914, the new depot, named Union Station, opened to a crowd of 100,000 people. The 1903 flood swamped Union Depot, giving the city an impetus to construct a new and larger depot in an area free of flooding and more convenient for passengers. To make matters worse, the entire West Bottoms area was prone to flooding. Traveling from the depot to Quality Hill and Downtown involved a nerve-racking ride on the cable cars of the steep Ninth Street Incline. The smoke of the coal-fired trains coated nearby buildings with black soot. Visitors to the city left the relative comfort of their railroad cars and were greeted with nearly four square blocks of the saloons, gambling centers, billiard halls, tattoo parlors, and brothels that surrounded the depot. Coming from certain angles, passengers actually had to avoid trains on the tracks. ![]() While an excellent place to pick up packaged meat and cattle for shipment to the North and East, the West Bottoms was one of the more unseemly parts of town for passenger traffic. The major drawbacks to Union Depot all stemmed from its location in the West Bottoms. By 1890 the population had more than doubled to 132,000. With such remodeling projects, Union Depot remained the city's major transportation hub in spite of the city's growth. A major $224,083 expansion was carried out in 1880, just two years after the building's opening. It was even big enough to handle Kansas City's swiftly expanding volume of rail traffic, at least for a time. It housed express offices, comfortable restrooms, and a restaurant all of which were appointed with luxurious woods and metals. What the building may have lacked in subtlety, it made up for in practicality. Critics of the convoluted design referred to it as a "sprawling monstrosity" or "Kansas City's Insane Asylum " the latter a disparaging reference to the builder, who also constructed a mental hospital in Topeka, Kansas. It was topped off by a 125-foot, four-sided clock tower. The design showcased steeples, towers, turrets, arches, cupolas, and detailed ornamentation. The 384-foot long building displayed an intricate design, modeled after a French chateau and a blending of the Gothic and Victorian traditions. When the Union Depot opened on April 7, 1878, it seemed truly massive to the residents of a city that had a population lower than 10,000 just a decade before. The site was ideally situated to access the stockyards and meatpackers of the West Bottoms and enable shipment of their products eastward. They acquired a section of land on Union Avenue, owned by Kersey Coates, where one of the smaller depots had burned several years previously. Henning, organized a company for the construction of Union Depot. Several land developers, including George H. That year, a new City Charter imposed penalties on delinquent taxpayers, revitalizing the city's budget. In 1875, Kansas City nearly went bankrupt due to $400,000 in delinquent taxes. The need for a larger new depot was apparent by the mid-1870s, but budgetary constraints pushed the project back. ![]() ![]() The several small train stations in existence were inadequate and inefficient in handling the increased traffic. Awarded “Top Banquet Facilities in KC” by KC Business Journal, the facility annually hosts hundreds of community events and private celebrations of all sizes.With all of this growth, the city lacked a large rail depot where shipments could be concentrated. Union Station is also home to prominent area civic organizations and businesses, and regularly hosts world-class traveling exhibitions. The organization - dedicated to preserving its historic monument and its stories, inspiring lifelong learning and creating lasting memories for our community - is home to Kansas City’s internationally-awarded Science City – Powered by Burns & McDonnell the new Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium the Regnier Extreme Screen Theatre the popular Model Railroad Experience City Stage featuring live theater, and a selection of unique shops and restaurants. Now 20 years later, Science City has earned the distinction of Kansas City’s “Favorite Attraction” and “Favorite Family-Friendly Attraction”, while Union Station as a whole is recognized as KC’s “Favorite Historic Attraction” and “Best of KC”. Union Station Kansas City - a 501(c)3 non-profit organization - is a 104-year-old historical landmark and celebrated civic asset renovated and reopened to the public in 1999.
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