Union Station (St. Louis)

St. Louis Union Station
Outside the station is Carl Milles' fountain sculpture Meeting Waters
Location	1820 Market Street St. Louis, Missouri 63103
Owned by	Bi-State Development Agency dba Metro
Line(s)	St. Louis Metrolink Metrolink Rail Lines:   Red Line   Blue Line
Platforms	1
Tracks	2
Connections	MetroBus: 4, 41, and 97 Megabus (to Memphis, Tennessee, Kansas City, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois)
Construction
Parking	Yes; Paid
Disabled access	Accessible
Other information
Station code	STL
History
Opened	1892-94
Rebuilt	1985
Services
Metro/Taxis/Megabus Preceding station   MetroLink   Following station Grand toward Lambert Airport Terminal 1 Red Line Civic Center toward Shiloh–Scott Grand toward Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44 Blue Line Civic Center toward Fairview Heights   Former services   Preceding station   Baltimore and Ohio   Following station Terminus St. Louis Line East St. Louis toward Cumberland Illinois Central Terminus St. Louis – Chicago East St. Louis toward Chicago Central Station St. Louis – Carbondale East St. Louis toward Carbondale New York Central Railroad Terminus St. Louis – Cleveland East St. Louis toward Cleveland Pennsylvania Railroad Terminus St. Louis – Columbus East St. Louis toward Columbus Rock Island Line Carrie Avenue Yard toward Kansas City, MO Kansas City – St. Louis Terminus
St. Louis Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
St. Louis Landmark
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Location	St. Louis, Missouri  United States
Coordinates	38°37′40.9″N 90°12′28.34″W / 38.628028°N 90.2078722°W / 38.628028; -90.2078722Coordinates: 38°37′40.9″N 90°12′28.34″W / 38.628028°N 90.2078722°W / 38.628028; -90.2078722
Built	1892-94
Architect	Theodore Link
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference #	70000888
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 15, 1970
Designated NHL	December 30, 1970

St. Louis Union Station, a National Historic Landmark, was a passenger intercity train terminal in St. Louis, Missouri. Once the world's largest and busiest train station, it was converted in the early 1980s into a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex. Today, it serves light-rail passengers on MetroLink's Red and Blue Lines, while the city's intercity train station sits a quarter-mile to the east.

The station opened on September 1, 1894, and was owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. The station was designed by Theodore Link, and included three main areas: the Headhouse and the Midway, and the 11.5-acre (47,000 m²) Train Shed designed by civil engineer George H. Pegram. The headhouse originally housed a hotel, a restaurant, passenger waiting rooms and railroad ticketing offices. It featured a gold-leafed Grand Hall, Romanesque arches, a 65-foot (20 m) barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows. The clock tower is 280 feet (85 m) high.

Union Station's headhouse and midway are constructed of Indiana limestone and initially included 42 tracks under its vast trainshed terminating in the stub-end terminal.

At its height, the station combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads, the most of any single terminal in the world. At its opening, it was the world's largest and busiest railroad station and its trainshed was the largest roof span in the world. In 1903, the station was expanded to accommodate visitors to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. At this time, Union station was noted as being one of the largest, if not the largest, railway station in all of North America and potentially the rest of the world. By this time, it was using 27 railroads to bring people to the city, and its Grand Hall, which cost around $6,500,000 and was about 75 by 125 feet large, was considered to be one of the most beautiful, public lobbies.