Union Depot (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

Tulsa Union Depot
Tulsa Union Depot, 2009
Location	111 East 1st St, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Other information
Status	School and Museum
History
Opened	May 13, 1931
Closed	May 13, 1967

Coordinates: 36°09′20″N 95°59′26″W / 36.155523°N 95.990652°W / 36.155523; -95.990652

The Tulsa Union Depot (also known as the Tulsa Union Station) is the former central railway station for Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has since been turned into an office building. The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame is currently headquartered in the former Depot.

The Depot was built in 1931 by the Public Works Administration and was considered "the single best PWA symbol of hope for economic recovery during the bleak days of the depression." It cost $3.5 million, paid for by a bond issue passed in 1927. The Depot was the first central station in the city of Tulsa, and it unified the small Frisco, Katy, and Santa Fe depots. Upon its completion, a crowd of over 60,000 people came to see the opening ceremonies, which included speeches, singing, dancing, and Indian stomp dancing. The event was even broadcast on radio. A new locomotive was unveiled, and the locomotive said to have brought the first passenger train into the city (Frisco's "Old 94") was showcased. The depot opened "Tulsa's important front door." At its peak, the depot served 36 trains a day.

Because of declining passenger train travel and the rise of air travel and the Interstate Highway system, the depot was abandoned after hosting its last passenger train in 1967. In 1980, the Williams Companies purchased the structure, and tasked designer Urban Design Group and contractor Manhattan Construction (the same company that built the depot in 1931) with restoring the same. In 1983 after completion, those companies leased space to make it their headquarters and offices.