In 2001, RTD purchased Union Station and the surrounding site of its old rail yards from the Denver Union Terminal Railway Corporation under a jointly-funded agreement between RTD, the City and County of Denver, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments, known as the Partner Agencies. The popular excursion train was later relocated to a site near the Denver Coliseum, where it continued to operate until being discontinued in 2019. Until the grand renovation, the station served the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Train, which runs between Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming for the Frontier Days Rodeo event. The station also served special trains such as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Ski Train, which operated until the end of the winter of 2008–2009 in September 2009, plans were announced to revive the service as a special limited route beginning in December, but this fell through due to insurance problems. From the 1980s to the early 2000s, RTD, the City and County of Denver, the original site owner Denver Union Terminal Railway Corporation, and several other entities made periodic improvements such as accommodating an RTD bus lane to access Market Street Station from I-25 and a light rail connection to the C Line. It was during this period that the orange "Union Station: Travel by Train" signs were placed on both sides of the building to advertise intercity rail travel.Īmtrak eventually became the sole provider of rail service through the station, operating only two trains daily between Chicago and the Bay Area with the California Zephyr. Late 20th century: DeclineĪlthough World War II saw a surge in rail traffic, the latter half of the 20th century saw a sharp decline in service for Union Station and countless other train stations in the United States as competition began to grow from automobiles and airlines.įor the first time in 1958, passenger traffic at Stapleton International Airport exceeded that of Union Station. As a result of growing passenger service, the Mizpah Arch in front of the station was deemed a traffic hazard and was torn down in 1931. The new central portion, designed by Denver architects Gove & Walsh, was built in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1914.īy the 1920s and 1930s, over 80 trains served the station daily with notable dignitaries such as Queen Marie of Romania, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt arriving to Denver through the station. The new partnership decided to demolish and rebuild the central portion of the station to handle the increasing passenger traffic. In 1912, the original Union Depot partnership was dissolved and replaced by the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the then-major operators of the station (the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the Colorado & Southern, the Union Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande Western railways). The elevation facing 17th Street was changed to "Mizpah", a Hebrew word expressing an emotional bond between separated people, and used as a farewell to people leaving Denver. Constructed at a cost of $22,500 with 70 tons of steel and over 2,000 light bulbs, the arch originally featured the word "Welcome" on both sides. On July 4, 1906, a large arch was dedicated in front of the station in order to provide a symbolic threshold for travelers entering and leaving the city. Both the 18 depots included a tall central clock tower with four clock faces. The Kansas City architectural firm of Van Brunt & Howe was hired to design a larger replacement depot in the Romanesque Revival style. The station house reopened in the summer of 2014, hosting the 112-room Crawford Hotel, several restaurants and retailers, and a train hall.Ī fire that started in the women's restroom in 1894 destroyed the central portion of the 1881 depot. In 2012, the station underwent a major renovation transforming it into the centerpiece of a new transit-oriented mixed-use development built on the site's former railyards. The current structure was erected in two stages, with an enlarged central portion completed in 1914. A station was first opened on the site on June 1, 1881, but burnt down in 1894. It is located at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in the present-day LoDo district and includes the historic terminal building, a train shed, a 22-gate underground bus facility, and light rail station. Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).īeaux-Arts, Classical Revival, Romanesque Revivalĭenver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado.
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