The Union Station in Owensboro, Kentucky

Owensboro, Kentucky

Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...

 is a historic railroad station, built in 1905. Built mostly for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad

Louisville and Nashville Railroad

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...

, the station is made of limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

, and currently is home to several businesses.

Description

The Union Station, unlike most urban railroad stations, was situated in a "more spacious area". In the west end was a waiting area, and the east end featured a two-story freight section. The station gains a Gothic look with wooden barge boarding and brackets on its gabled entrance.

The L&N used the second floor of the building for support services and administration.

History

The first railroad company in Owensboro was the Owensboro and Russellville Railroad, in operation from 1867 to 1876. After the O&R went bankrupt, the Owensboro and Nashville Railroad took over the assets, and were in control until purchased by the L&N in 1879.

The station was a joint effort between the L&N, the Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis Railroad, and the Illinois Central Railroad

Illinois Central Railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...

, building over an older depot of the Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis. The plans were designed by Henry F. Hawes and John B. Hutchings and constructed by Walter Brashear. The initial work was completed in 1906.

At its height in the 1920s, the station daily served eighteen passenger trains. In 1958, the station stopped being used for passenger traffic, as the L&N claimed annual losses of $130,000 for continuing the passenger service.

Since then it has seen several different uses. In the 1970s it was used as a discothèque and then a pizza parlor, but both were unsuccessful, leaving the station empty for a time. Major over hauls of the station occurred in 1982 and 1988, with the latter seeing a two-story atrium

Atrium (architecture)

In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...

 and office added to its eastern side. Current tenants include a preschool, an architectural design group, an adult day care, and a Hilliard Lyons

Hilliard Lyons

J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC is a full service investment firm, based in Louisville, Kentucky, and founded in 1854. The company started as two separate companies, both located in Louisville. In 1965, the companies merged to create the current company...

office.