Dayton Union Station

Dayton Union Station
inter-city rail station
Dayton Union Station in 1904
Location	130 West 6th Street Dayton, OH 45402
Coordinates	39°45′17″N 84°11′38″W / 39.7548°N 84.1940°W / 39.7548; -84.1940Coordinates: 39°45′17″N 84°11′38″W / 39.7548°N 84.1940°W / 39.7548; -84.1940
Elevation	740 ft (230 m)
History
Opened	1900
Closed	1979
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Richmond toward Kansas City National Limited Columbus toward New York or Washington, D.C. Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station toward Cincinnati Cincinnati – Cleveland toward Cleveland Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Richmond toward St. Louis St. Louis – Columbus via Dayton toward Columbus toward Cincinnati Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway Terminus Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station toward Cincinnati Toledo Division toward Detroit

Dayton Union Station was a railroad station serving Dayton, Ohio with daily passenger trains of several railroads. The station was located at 251 W. Sixth Street at the intersection of Ludlow Street, and it opened in 1900, replacing an earlier depot built in the mid-1850s. It was owned by the Dayton Union Railroad Co., which was owned by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad.^[1] Through a series of mergers over the years, it was ultimately owned by the New York Central Railroad, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and Pennsylvania Railroad.

Colloquially called the "Tower Depot," it included a seven-story clock tower.^[2][3] In the first 30 years of operation, the station hosted as many as 66 passenger trains a day. In 1931 the station opened an elevated platform to alleviate congestion between trains, streetcars and automobiles.^[2]

Famous personalities that stopped by the station included child actress Shirley Temple in 1944, President Harry S. Truman in 1948 and President Ronald Reagan in 1983, both of the latter two making campaign stops, Reagan making a whistle stop tour.^[2]

Named trains[]

Station interior, 1908

Decline[]

In summer 1964 part of the station was demolished to make way for an extension of Sixth Street. Amtrak took over passenger service in 1971, and cut back service to a single train, the Spirit of St. Louis, inherited from Penn Central. That train was subsequently extended to Kansas City and renamed the National Limited.

The National Limited at the station in February 1978

The last train out of the station was the National Limited, which was eliminated in October, 1979 when U.S. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams opted to eliminate half a dozen Amtrak routes he deemed lower performing.^[4] The last remnants of the station were removed altogether in 1989.^{[2] [5]}

Notes[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Union Station (Dayton, Ohio).

• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Early Years -Photos of the station in its earliest decades
• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: 1940s & 1950s -Photos of the station from the mid-20th Century
• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Later Years 1960s+ -Photos of the station from the 1960s to the 1980s