Historic Union Station of St Louis

Back when it opened in 1894 Union Station was the biggest railroad station in the WORLD and it expanded even further in 1903 to accommodate traffic to the 1904 St Louis World's Fair.

The man-made pond shown in my first picture has a history even older than that. It was the original site of Chouteau's Pond that was built in the 1790s when Mill Stream was damned to provide power for a flour mill. The pond was drained in the 1850s to make room for Union Station's 42 train tracks.

Once the heyday of train travel was replaced by airplanes Union Station became obsolete and too expensive to maintain. Amtrak took it over for passenger service in 1971 but later abandoned it in 1978.

It was deemed a National Historic Landmark and was given a $150 million renovation to a hotel, shopping mall, and food court. During the 1990s - 2000s I spent many lunch hours at the food court here. The Main Post Office in St Louis is located directly across the street from Union Station and it was a quick and favorite lunch stop when I had to attend meetings or training classes at the MPO. Unfortunately, as time went on, the Union Station fell on to hard times and disrepair and the shops and food court disappeared.

This is the stained glass window that overlooks an entrance into Union Station from the Market Street side. In 2016 renovations were once again started. This time the food court and shops are being replaced by a 120,000 square-foot indoor aquarium at an estimated cost of $45 million dollars. Construction is well underway and it is slated to be completed by the end of this year. The developers are hoping to pull in one million visitors each year.

Meanwhile, they have added a few additional outdoor attractions such as The St. Louis Wheel. It's a 200-foot high Ferris wheel with 42 cars that are totally enclosed with heating and air conditioning. A $15 ticket for an adult will get you about a 15-minute ride (3 or 4 rotations around). A little too pricey for me, plus I'd rather ride in an open-air car and get a bigger thrill. But if that price didn't make you blink, there's a VIP car for private seating at $50 a seat that will get you a leather captain's chair, a complimentary photo, and a glass floor so you can look down as well as out!

They have also installed the St Louis Carousel which claims beautifully designed horses and exotic animals. Although it appears ready to go, they have not started running it yet and have provided no information on the expected cost of a ride.

If you have occasion to visit St Louis, Missouri you should allow a little time to explore Union Station and see a piece of our nation's railroad history and within a few more months you will be able to also visit a world-class indoor aquarium at the same time.

All photographs were taken by me with my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

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