- The original station was built on the Union Station site on N. High St. in 1851. Hardly fitting for Ohio's capital, it was immediately inadequate and looked like a barn.
- The "3C" route was completed in 1853, allowing for direct train travel between Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.
- In 1875 the new Union Depot was completed next door to the old train station. Its' French brick style and much larger size made it more appropriate for ever-increasing train traffic. The original station was immediately demolished.
- Train traffic peaked at about 160 trains a day in 1916.
- Planning for a new facility began in 1893 with noted architect Daniel Burnham of Chicago. The new station would be more comprehensively planned and would include a High St. bridge over the rail tracks.
- Also included for the first time was commercial shops and offices along with an ornate gateway along the sides of the bridge and approach, so visitors would see continuous shops instead of the less attractive tracks.
- Burnham's firm used the style known as the Beaux-Arts Classicism, popular at the time for large, oversized buildings and popular at the recent Chicago Exposition.
- The actual train station was several hundred feet east of the High St. arcade.
- The entire project was built between 1895 and 1899.
- By the late 1920s, increased automobile traffic necessitated some changes. The south pavilion was torn down, and a loop driveway added to allow cars to enter and turn around.
- That very automobile popularity in the 1950s and the near completion of the interstate system in the 1960s began the end for Union Station: rail traffic dropped dramatically. By the time Amtrak took over service in 1971, only two trains a day left Union Station. All Amtrak service was discontinued in 1979.
- By the mid 1970s the city of Columbus owned the largely abandoned Union Station and was eyeing the area for a new convention center called Ohio Center.
Taking the Cars then says the project:
...proposed retention of the High Street arcade as part of the Ohio Center, to serve both as an entrance gateway and a transit hub for city buses. Federal funding had been applied for by the city of Columbus, albeit incorrectly.
But according to the book ...for reasons that have never been adequately explained...[the project] abruptly decided not to retain the arcade as part of the Ohio Center plans. At 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 22, 1976, demolition of the arcade began, an event still regarded by local preservationists as the "Friday Night massacre".
Begin demolition on a Friday night? Why was this "snuck in"? What is the big thrill of tearing things down? And what is there today--the "gee, ain't we nuts" convention center with leaning trains covering a typical sterile interior. Big improvement.
Only the arch in the Arena District remains of this Columbus landmark. What a shame. The Columbus Historical Society says this book is the first in a series of publications on Columbus history. let's hope so. Columbus is the only city of its' size without a history museum. And it shows.
