A little local history lesson...
St. Louis Union Station, circa 1894, was once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world. Built for $6.5 million and primarily of Indiana limestone, St. Louis Union Station was designed to not only be functional, but beautiful...
The train station acted as the main central hub between the east and the west for decades, and was designed with three main areas: The Headhouse, Midway, and Trainshed.
The Headhouse originally boasted a hotel, restaurant, passenger waiting rooms, railroad ticketing offices, and a clock tower....
The crown jewel of the Headhouse, however, was the gold-leafed Grand Hall...
One of the main gathering spots during the famous 1902 St. Louis World's Fair era, Grandhall featured an impressive 65ft barrel vaulted ceiling, mosaic, Romanesque archways, and the STUNNING "Allegorical Window" made from hand-cut Tiffany glass and strategically positioned above the Station's main "Whispering Arch" entryway ...
The window features three women, representing the main US train terminals of the time: New York, St. Louis, and San Francisco...
The Midway, a covered transfer area between the Headhouse and the Trainshed, provided a place for train passengers to bid farewell and/or welcome family and friends...
Union Station's 11+ acre Train Shed, the largest in the world at the time, included 42 tracks and combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads at its peak...
Unlike other train stations, trains backed into the Union Station underneath the shed, allowing passengers quick and covered access to the Midway and Headhouse. In the 1940s, it is said that the train terminal handled a whopping 100,000 passengers per day! In fact, recall this famous photograph from your US History class of Harry S. Truman proudly displaying the misprint made by the Chicago Tribune after his upset victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 Presidential Election?
It was taken at our Union Station as Truman headed back to Washington DC from Independence, MO. Rich history, to say the least.
In 1976, Union Station was designated a National Historic Landmark. The advent of planes saw train travel decrease, however, until the last train pulled out of Union Station in 1978. In 1979, a property company purchased the Station for $5.5 million. The dilapidated structure sat empty until it reopened in the mid 1980's after an enormous $140+ million restoration, making it the largest adaptive re-use project in the United States.
As a native St. Louisan and as a teen at the time of the 1980's reopening... it was a big deal. Truly, the place to be with restaurants, hotels, and shops galore. While mostly geared towards visitors of our city, it was a very popular destination for locals, as well. Particularly before and after downtown events, such as Cardinals games and concerts...
In recent years, however, locals have genuinely worried about the future of Union Station as the shops and restaurants have slowly closed down, leaving this historic landmark a virtual Ghost Town...
In 2012, Lodging Hospitality Management bought the station and its 539-room hotel for $20 million with the goal of restoring it to its original glory. I am not going to lie, locals have been nervously sitting on pins and needles while closely following the project to see what direction is was going.
LHM revealed BIG plans for the structure and has made ever bigger promises to the city including a 2 level family entertainment area, a parking lot climate-controlled Ferris wheel, new restaurants, a fabulous new event and convention space, and more.
I was aware that the Union Station hotel, now a Doubletree, had undergone a massive $30+ million renovation. In fact, I followed much of the progress on Instagram as craftsman associated with the City Museum posted real-time renovation photos, including this AMAZING original plasterwork detail found behind a wall in March of this year...
That being said, it wasn't until the recent public reveal and opening of the renovated Grand Hall (now Doubletree hotel lobby) that locals have been able to grasp the TRUE vision of Lodging Hospitality Management and future for our beloved Union Station...
The most interesting feature of the reno? 3D ceiling projections, each 30 to 45 seconds in length, that will be shown at least hourly over the bar and restaurant featuring craft cocktails, and gourmet "small bite" dishes.
A little peek of what you can expect...
Neat, right? Add it to your local "bucket list", St. Louis!
Connect with Grand Hall at...
St. Louis Union Station
1820 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
Web: http://www.grandhall-stl.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGrandHallSTL
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGrandHallSTL
