Union Station

Pratt's Hotel in the original Union Depot.

Second Union Depot. Public domain photo taken between 1905 and 1915. Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Union Depot postcard.

Union Station in 2008. Photo by Phil Frana.

Union Station is a Little Rock train station stop for the 1,308-mile Amtrak Texas Eagle route. The Texas Eagle makes twenty-six stops between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas.

History of First and Second Union Station Depots

The original Union Station was constructed in 1885. Pratt's Hotel was located inside the depot in the late nineteenth century. The first station burned to the ground in 1900. It was rebuilt only to burn again in a 1921 fire. Only the clock tower and Italian Renaissance arches survived the second fire.

Railroads served by first two Union Depots:

• Little Rock, Mississippi River, and Texas Railway
• St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railway

History of Current Union Station

Union Station was reconstructed in the Prairie style in 1921 after fire gutted the older Union Station Depot. The four-story station contains 110,000 square feet and covers 5.6 acres at the west end of Markham Avenue. The Missouri Pacific Railroad sold the station on April 27, 1973, to Train Station, Inc.

Railroads served by Union Station:

• Amtrak
• Missouri Pacific Railroad
• Union Pacific Railroad

References

• George Waldon, "Running Off the Tracks," Arkansas Business, August 19, 1991.

External links

• Homepage of Amtrak's Texas Eagle