page_title: History of Cincinnati Union Terminal
hierarchical_section_title: History of Cincinnati Union Terminal
caption_attribution_description: Cymraeg: Gorsaf reilffordd Cincinnati
context_page_description: Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The terminal is served by Amtrak's Cardinal line, passing through Cincinnati three times weekly. The building's largest tenants are the Cincinnati Museum Center, a group of three museums, a library, and a theater, as well as the Holocaust & Humanity Center.
  The terminal was developed throughout the 1920s as a solution for Cincinnati's five train stations serving seven railroads. The cramped stations were close to the Ohio River, which created regular flooding issues. The Great Flood of 1884, one of the largest floods at that time, particularly prompted efforts to consolidate services in a new terminal. Numerous committees developed plans between 1908 and 1923, but construction only started in 1928. The project involved creation of viaducts, mail and express buildings, and utility structures: a power plant, water treatment facility, and roundhouse. The station building's site necessitated demolishing numerous structures and relandscaping and repurposing Lincoln Park. While construction was taking place, the design plans evolved.
context_section_description: Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The terminal is served by Amtrak's Cardinal line, passing through Cincinnati three times weekly. The building's largest tenants are the Cincinnati Museum Center, a group of three museums, a library, and a theater, as well as the Holocaust & Humanity Center.
  The terminal was developed throughout the 1920s as a solution for Cincinnati's five train stations serving seven railroads. The cramped stations were close to the Ohio River, which created regular flooding issues. The Great Flood of 1884, one of the largest floods at that time, particularly prompted efforts to consolidate services in a new terminal. Numerous committees developed plans between 1908 and 1923, but construction only started in 1928. The project involved creation of viaducts, mail and express buildings, and utility structures: a power plant, water treatment facility, and roundhouse. The station building's site necessitated demolishing numerous structures and relandscaping and repurposing Lincoln Park. While construction was taking place, the design plans evolved. The architectural firm Fellheimer & Wagner originally conceived a conservative design, though the terminal's development company urged the firm to hire Paul Philippe Cret in 1930, and the terminal's Art Deco design is credited to him. The design, more modern and cheerful, came along with cost savings over the originally-planned intricate designs.
  The station opened on March 19, 1933, and initially was not well utilized, as the Great Depression led to declined passenger travel. At the onset of World War II, passenger traffic increased significantly, and three United Service Organizations recreation centers opened for troops to use within the terminal. In the next two decades after the war, passenger use declined significantly, as Americans had taken to affordable individual automobiles and airplanes for long-distance travel. A science museum opened in 1968, offsetting some of the building's maintenance costs until it closed in 1970. Amtrak, the national railroad service, was formed in 1971 to rescue declining railroad companies. Amtrak recognized significant operating costs and moved its Cincinnati services to stop at the smaller, new River Road station in 1972. The station's concourse, platforms, and tracks were sold to the Southern Railway for freight operations. The company tore down the terminal's concourse in 1974, after giving the community time to save its artwork. Starting in 1978, a shopping mall was built within the terminal, opening in 1980, though the last tenant left by 1985. Around this time, the Cincinnati Historical Society and Cincinnati Museum of Natural History were looking for new museum space, and led the county to approve funding to transform the building into a museum. The renovation restored some original spaces and included creation of the museum's Omnimax theater. The museum center officially opened in 1991, and its renovations spurred Amtrak to return service to the terminal that year. In 1998, the Cinergy Children's Museum joined the Cincinnati Museum Center. In 2016, the county funded an extensive renovation throughout the building, also supported by grants, donations, and tax credits. The two-year renovation cleaned and repaired artwork, the main exterior clock, the plaza and fountain, walls, and roofs. Following reopening, in early 2019, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center became an additional museum tenant at Union Terminal.
caption: Union Terminal's east facade
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