DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. By the early 1900s, Dallas had a problem that sounds almost too good to have — too many railroads. Lines crisscrossing, depots scattered, passengers shuttling from one corner of the city to another just to catch a connecting train.
Something had to give. And in 1912, seven rail lines sat down together and decided to fix it. They formed the Union Terminal Company, pooling their interests into one bold idea: a single terminal to serve them all.
Now, when you've got seven railroads putting their names on something, you don't hire a small thinker. They brought in Jarvis Hunt, a Chicago architect with a feel for grandeur. Hunt gave them neo-classical — the columns, the symmetry, the kind of building that makes you stand up a little straighter just walkin' toward it.
And then, up on the second floor, he put in a grand hall. Not a waiting room. A grand hall.
The kind of space that tells you something important is happening here. The facility officially opened on October 14th, 1916, right at the start of the State Fair — which, if you know anything about Dallas, is just about the most Dallas timing imaginable. From that day forward, Union Station became a center of community life during the peak years of train travel.
Soldiers shipping out, families reuniting, strangers becoming neighbors in those long high-ceilinged moments before a departure. Seven railroads, one architect, one grand hall — and a city finally moving in the same direction.
What the marker says
By the early 1900s, Dallas needed a single rail terminal for the numerous railroads serving the city. In 1912 seven rail lines formed the Union Terminal Co. They hired Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt, who designed this neo-classical building with an elegant grand hall on the second floor. The facility officially opened Oct. 14, 1916, at the start of the state Fair. A Dallas landmark, Union Station was a center of community life during the peak years of train travel. RTHL - 1979