Savannah Union Station

Savannah Union Station was a train station in Savannah, Georgia. It was located at 419 through 435 West Broad Street, between Stewart and Roberts streets, on the site that is now listed as 435 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. It hosted the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Southern Railway. While the term, union station, in the United States generally implies a station that hosts all train companies stopping in a city, the Central of Georgia and the Savannah and Atlanta Railway used other stations in Savannah.[1]

Savannah Union Station, rendering by architect Frank P. Milburn

Architecture

It was designed by Columbia, South Carolina architect Frank Pierce Milburn and completed in 1902 at a cost of $150,000. It was an example of Spanish Renaissance and Elizabethian styles. The main feature of the structure was an octagonal rotunda which measured 80 feet in diameter and served as the general waiting room. Since most of the station's history took place under the South's Jim Crow segregation system, a colored waiting room was assigned to African-Americans.[2]

The exterior walls were made of pressed brick with granite and terra cotta trimmings. The building also had two towers.

Significance and history

Many visitors disembarked trains onto West Broad Street.[3] They brought enough business for theaters, bars, stores to open in that section of town. For decades, the Union Station and its surroundings became known as the economic and cultural center for Black Savannah.[4]

In August, 1962 the remaining passenger trains were shifted to the new Atlantic Coast Line station on the periphery of Savannah, which remains in use today by Amtrak. A year later, Union Station was demolished to make room for Interstate 16 and what would eventually be known as the Earl T. Shinhoster Interchange.[5]

Named trains

Several named trains made stops at the station:

Operators	Named trains	Northern destination	Southern destination
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (train continued later under Amtrak)	Champion	New York, New York	St. Petersburg, Florida and Miami, Florida
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad	Everglades	Washington, D.C.	Jacksonville, Florida
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad	Havana Special	New York, New York	Tampa, Florida and Miami, Florida
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (train continued later under Amtrak)	Palmetto (ACL train)	New York, New York	terminus
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	Palmland	New York, New York	Tampa, Florida and Miami, Florida
Seaboard Air Line Railroad (train continued later under Amtrak)	Silver Meteor	New York, New York	Miami, Florida
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	Sunland	Washington, D.C. and Portsmouth, Virginia	Tampa, Florida
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	Tidewater	Portsmouth, Virginia	Jacksonville, Florida
Southern Railway	Skyland Special	Asheville, North Carolina	Jacksonville, Florida

Current use of the site

An Enmark service station (405 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) is located nearby what was once the site of the Union Station.

The Savannah Visitor Information Center is in the former Central of Georgia Depot and Trainshed, located nearby, at 301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

See also

• Savannah station (Amtrak), the current train station for Savannah

References

1. Official Guide of the Railways, August 1936, Index of Stations
2. The Savannah Press, December 13, 1900
3. Revitalizing MLK Boulevard: Enough business to go around?, Christian Livermore, Savannah Morning News, May 20, 2007
4. The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, The New Georgia Encyclopedia, History & Archeology
5. Acosta, Ruben A. 'Savannah‟s Union Station: Architecture and the Gateway in the South' Master's Thesis, Savannah College of Art and Design, 2010

Preceding station	Atlantic Coast Line Railroad			Following station
Georgetown toward Tampa		Main Line		Hardeeville toward Richmond
Preceding station	Seaboard Air Line Railroad			Following station
Interstate toward Tampa or Miami		Main Line		Clyo toward Richmond
Terminus		East Carolina Line		Pritchard toward Hamlet
Meldrim toward Montgomery		Montgomery-Savannah		Terminus