Collection #

M 0876
OMB 0143

Union Station Indianapolis, Indiana
Collection, 1882–1996

Collection Information

Historical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Contents

Cataloging Information

Processed by

Emily Castle
June 2006

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION:	Manuscript Materials: 6 manuscript boxes, 2 OMB boxes Visual Materials: 2 photograph folders, 2 color photograph folders, 1 OVA color photograph folder
COLLECTION DATES:	1882–1996
PROVENANCE:	Woollen, Molzan & Partners, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, March 2002; City of Indianapolis, IN, August 2002
RESTRICTIONS:	None
COPYRIGHT:
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS:	Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS:
RELATED HOLDINGS:	M0780, OMB 0090 (Indianapolis Union railway company Maintenance of Way Department Records); SC 2130 (Union Station Records); P0157 Union Station Visual Collection
ACCESSION NUMBER:	2002.0415; 2002.0692
NOTES:

historiCAL SKETCH

Originally built in 1853, Union Station had a dramatic effect on the growth and development of Indianapolis. The station prospered for decades serving up to 200 trains and thousands of people per day, including such notables as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

To accommodate the increasing number of travelers, Union Station’s original depot was replaced in 1888 by a three-story Romanesque-Revival style structure known today as the Grand Hall. Union Station was one of the earliest attempts by a major American city to unite the passenger and express freight services of several competing railroad companies in a single convenient downtown terminal.

In its original form, Union Station possessed a large iron train shed at street level. By the early 1900s, the surface-level train traffic was getting seriously entangled with growing vehicle traffic in the downtown area. The solution was to create an extensive new grade-separated right-of-way through downtown. As part of this project, the original iron train shed was replaced with a new, larger, poured concrete shed in 1916. The new shed offered 12 through passenger and two stub freight and express tracks. It's this combination of 1888 headhouse with 1922 train shed which survives today.

As rail travel declined through the 20^th century, Union Station eventually became a dark, ghostly relic of a by-gone era. During the 1960s and 1970s, it suffered from the same pattern of deferred maintenance and slow decline common to most urban terminals. By 1979 the building had become a municipal eyesore, largely vacant and served by only a few trains a day.

In 1982, inspired by the success of adaptive reuse projects in cities like Boston's Faneuil Hall area and Baltimore's Inner Harbor, the city government stepped in and decided to try its hand at a similar project for Union Station. A local developer began a renovation project that turned the facility into an urban festival marketplace. The renovated Union Station opened its doors in 1986, several years and $50 million later.

The 1888 headhouse became the grand entrance to the complex, housing an upscale restaurant on the former concourse floor. The eastern half of the shed became a festival marketplace, with specialty stores, bars, and a food court, while the western half was converted into a hotel. Four tracks at the north and south ends were retained, and stocked with old heavyweight Pullmans, which were gutted to the shell and rebuilt with completely new interiors containing two rooms each. Though dressed up in inauthentic colors and lettering, the cars did at least broadly recreate the sightlines and overall images one might have seen along platforms in the 1920s or 1930s.

Faced with declining patronage and continued high maintenance costs, city officials shuttered the mall venture in 1996. Since then, the city has scrambled to find paying tenants for the various parts of the property. The festival marketplace had been torn out, replaced by a go-kart track. The hotel is still in business, now in operation as a Crowne Plaza. The headhouse is essentially vacant, reduced to intermittent use as a ballroom floor for special events at the hotel. When not in use for an event, the building is locked, shuttered, and empty again.

Sources:

Materials in collection

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of memorabilia from the Union Station in Indianapolis. It is arranged alphabetically by subject. There are accounts receivable ledgers, reports, and other working papers from railroads that used the station. There are also brochures, maps, freight weigh bills, and rule books from the railroad companies. The Pennsylvania Railroad has the most papers, including circulars, maps, brochures, and reports. There is general railroad history: booklets, information about Pullman cars, and clippings.

There is also information from when the station was renovated into a marketplace, including photographs and mockups of the new inside, and flyers for the local sports bar. There are many donations to the “Remember Union Station” program in 1986 which asked people to send in their memories about the building. This includes correspondence, photographs, and artifacts.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS	CONTAINER
Accounts receivable ledger, Oct. 1882–May 1884	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 1
Accounts receivable ledger, May 1884–Oct. 1886	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 2
Accounts receivable ledger, Nov. 1886–Aug. 1890	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 3
Accounts receivable ledger, Sept. 1890–June 1894	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 4
Accounts receivable ledger, Sept. 1897–Oct. 1900	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 5
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, correspondence, 1954	Box 1, Folder 1
Barry Goldwater whistle stops in Indiana, 1964	Box 1, Folder 2
Big Four time-table, 1930	Box 1, Folder 3
Blueprints and drawings, ca. 1886–1931	OMB 0143: Box 1, Folder 6
Boarding Pass coupon book, 1994	Box 1, Folder 4
Clark County and Louisville Defense Council Instructions, 1942	Box 1, Folder 5
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company, track change, Jan. 1930	Box 1, Folder 6
Clippings, 1967–96	Box 1, Folder 7
Contractors monthly reports of work done and materials furnished, 1887–88	OMB 0143: Box 2, Folder 1
Correspondence, 1947–58	Box 1, Folder 8
Correspondence, re: accounting, 1968-71	Box 1, Folder 9
Dining car service, beer and liquor regulations, 1967–68	Box 1, Folder 10
Discontinuance notices, 1949–70	Box 1, Folder 11
Discontinued service, June 1970	Box 1, Folder 12
Displays, n.d.	OMB 0143: Box 2, Folder 2
Elmer F. Hess, correspondence, 1948–71	Box 1, Folder 13
Elmer F. Hess, expense file, 1967–69	Box 1, Folder 14
Elmer F. Hess, personnel records, 1946–71	Box 1, Folder 15
Engine blueprints, n.d.	Box 1, Folder 16
Enginemen’s Time Book, 1946–64	Box 1, Folder 17
Field Book, n.d.	Box 2, Folder 1
Flying Scotsman United States Tour, 1969	Box 2, Folder 2
General Motors Executive Conference, Grey Train, May 1969	Box 2, Folder 3
Indiana Experience donor forms, 1988	Box 2, Folder 4
Indianapolis at Work, n.d.	Box 2, Folder 5
Indianapolis Passenger Association meeting agendas, 1960–67	Box 2, Folder 6
Indianapolis Union Railroad, accounts payable ledger, 1888	OMB 0143: Box 2, Folder 3
Indianapolis Union Railroad, correspondence, 1919	Box 2, Folder 7
Joint Passenger Tariff, one way fares from Indianapolis, 1928	Box 2, Folder 8
Joseph A. Niermeyer, correspondence, 1937–73	Box 2, Folder 9
Kentucky Derby reservations, 1960–66	Box 2, Folder 10
Kentucky Derby reservations, 1967–68	Box 2, Folder 11
Log Book, 1987	Box 2, Folder 12
Miscellaneous station information, 1990	Box 2, Folder 13
Murat Temple, special train, 1964–65	Box 2, Folder 14
New York Central System and B&O Railroad, correspondence, 1935–55	Box 2, Folder 15
New York Central System, freight weigh bills, 1969	Box 2, Folder 16
New York Central System, routes, 1960	Box 2, Folder 17
Norfolk & Western Railway Company, freight weigh bills, 1970	Box 2, Folder 18
Pennsylvania Railroad, brochures and maps, 1967–68	Box 3, Folder 1
Pennsylvania Railroad, brochures and timetables, 1934–64	Box 3, Folder 2
Pennsylvania Railroad, cars, 1952–69	Box 3, Folder 3
Pennsylvania Railroad, circulars, 1968–70	Box 3, Folder 4
Pennsylvania Railroad, correspondence and clippings, 1962–70	Box 3, Folder 5
Pennsylvania Railroad, correspondence and maps, 1970s	Box 3, Folder 6
Pennsylvania Railroad, expense accounts, 1963–69	Box 3, Folder 7
Pennsylvania Railroad, freight weigh bills, 1972	Box 3, Folder 8
Pennsylvania Railroad, instruction, 1956–63	Box 3, Folder 9
Pennsylvania Railroad, line wire, 1960–67	Box 3, Folder 10
Pennsylvania Railroad, passenger losses, 1968	Box 3, Folder 11
Pennsylvania Railroad, passes, 1951–71	Box 3, Folder 12
Pennsylvania Railroad, reports, 1945–61	Box 3, Folder 13
Pennsylvania Railroad, reports, 1959–68	Box 3, Folder 14
Pennsylvania Railroad, rule and operating booklets, 1932–49	Box 4, Folder 1
Pennsylvania Railroad, rule books, 1923–56	Box 4, Folder 2
Pennsylvania Railroad, “S” circulars, 1921–68	Box 4, Folder 3
Pennsylvania Railroad, ticket agents atlas’, 1905	OMB 0143: Box 2, Folder 4
Pennsylvania Railroad, transportation notices, 1964–67	Box 4, Folder 4
Pennsylvania Railroad, transportation notices, 1968–70	Box 4, Folder 5
Personnel data records, 1916–59	Box 4, Folder 6
Pictorial history of railroads, n.d.	Box 4, Folder 7
Players, Union Station sports bar, 1995	Box 4, Folder 8
Position records, 1940–66	Box 4, Folder 9
Private cars, 1961–70	Box 4, Folder 10
Pullman Company, descriptive list of cars, 1963–67	Box 5, Folder 1
Purchase orders, 1965	Box 5, Folder 2
Quiz on Railroads and Railroading, booklets, 1956–59	Box 5, Folder 3
Railroad clippings, 1965–70	Box 5, Folder 4
Railroad contact information, 1968–69	Box 5, Folder 5
Railroad history booklets, 1957–58	Box 5, Folder 6
Railroad information booklets, 1901–48	Box 5, Folder 7
Railroad retirement board, 1938	Box 5, Folder 8
“Remembering Union Station,” 1986	Box 5, Folder 9
“Remembering Union Station,” correspondence, 1986	Box 5, Folder 10
“Remembering Union Station,” donations, 1901–64	Box 5, Folder 11
“Remembering Union Station,” donations, 1948–82	Photographs: Folder 1
“Remembering Union Station,” donations, 1955–82	Color Photographs: Folder 1
“Remembering Union Station,” follow-ups, 1986	Box 5, Folder 12
Renovation, 1989	Box 5, Folder 13
Rule books, 1926–49	Box 5, Folder 14
Special movements, 1957–70	Box 6, Folder 1
Store licenses, 1938–67	Box 6, Folder 2
Ticket agents, 1968	Box 6, Folder 3
Tickets Sold and Revenues, Principal Union Stations, 1963–68	Box 6, Folder 4
Trails to Rails, by Carlton J. Corliss, 1953	Box 6, Folder 5
Transportation notice instructions, Nov. 1970	Box 6, Folder 6
Trip passes, 1946–70	Box 6, Folder 7
Turbo train, 1970	Box 6, Folder 8
Unemployment Claims Agent’s Manual, 1939	Box 6, Folder 9
Union Station, n.d.	Color Photographs: Folder 2
Union Station history, 1995–96	Box 6, Folder 10
Union Station main terminal, n.d.	OVA Color Photographs: Folder 1
Ups and Downs in Railroad Passenger and Pullman Fares, 1952–57	Box 6, Folder 11
Wall displays, n.d.	Box 6, Folder 12
Weigh bills and freight lists, 1960–75	Box 6, Folder 13
Yearly ticket sales, 1956–63	Box 6, Folder 14

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0876).

5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.