Tour of Cincinnati's Union Terminal

Yesterday, my father and I were fortunate to take part in "1940s Day" at the Cincinnati History Museum which is housed in this magnificent art deco building. The building still operates as the city's Amtrak station - with very limited service, especially compared to the peak era for train travel in this country.  As part of the day, vintage cars, a big band and people in period costume were part of the setting.  This particular video shows the main facade of the building along with a decorative fountain that makes up the center of the drop-off area for the building.  We were able to take a behind-the-scenes tour, led by one of the docents of the museum.  I've put together a slide show that will be available shortly which shows some of the colorful and artistic detail of the interior of the building, along with some tidbits of the building's history.

In short, the building's genesis was a collaborative venture between seven different railroads that unified the location of what had been a set of five different train stations throughout the city.  Construction began in August, 1929 - and opened in 1933 during one of the most severe years of the Great Depression.  The building was designed to accommodate 17,000 rail travelers per day, but only reached that level as the U.S. neared World War II.  During the war years, an average of 36,000 people per day utilized this building as a train transit hub in the center of the country.  During the post war years, increased prosperity allowed people to afford more private automobiles, better roads in the form of the Interstate Highway System and eventually more affordable air travel combined to reduce passenger train travel to a level that could only be supported by federal subsidies.  Regular use of the building stopped in 1972 and it remained essentially vacant for many years until the establishment of the various museums present in the building today.

Check out the slide show which will be best seen in "full screen" mode.