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Tacoma's Union Station Lives On

 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, hardly any big city could imagine life without a big new main rail station, but by 1950 that era had largely passed, and in city after city stations were abandoned or ignored, eventually to be torn down or turned into hotels, shopping centers or what have you.

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As far as I know, Tacoma, Washington is unique in having its grand station recycled into a Federal courthouse, and I know it's the only one whose main hall also houses a serious collection of Dale Chihuly glass art.

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The last is less surprising when you consider that Tacoma is Chihuly's home town, and that one of the country's major museums of glass is located right across from the station in a location separated then by tracks and now, ominously, by highways.

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The station's opening was front-page news in 1911. Tacoma had a serious thing about railroads, to begin with. In 1873, after intense competition from Seattle, Tacoma was chosen as the western end of the Northern Pacific, the second transcontinental railroad, leaving Seattle to build a local short line to connect itself to the grid.

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The grand new building was meant, at least in part, to hang onto that special status as a "City of Destiny," whose population jumped from 2,000 in 1873 to 36,000 by 1890 and more than doubled again to 83,000 in 1910. And it went big on the job; the architects Reed and Stem were railroad specialists, and designed New York's Grand Central Terminal with another firm. It opened two years later.P1160646P1160654P1160656

Reed and Stem's original facade for Grand Central was overruled; the station kept their plan, but put a Warren and Wetmore classical facade on it, but in Tacoma the flamboyant Beaux-Arts style left the city with a memorable building and a copper dome that could be seen from almost anywhere in the city. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

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Sady, though, great design and historic significance weren't enough for Union Station to fall victim the changes that essentially gutted passenger rail travel in the U.S.; after World War II, the great shrinkage began, and Tacoma's dozens of trains a day shrank to six by 1984 when the station was closed and abandoned; the trains now stopped at a small station next to a freightyard, and all but the outer freight tracks were removed.

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Ironically, that's also the year this statue by Larry Anderson, titled New Beginnings was placed outside the station to celebrate the centennial of the city's incorporation.

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But the string had not run out for Union Station. With support from local campaigners and area politicians, a deal was worked out in 1987 to save the building by leasing it to the Federal government for an initial term of 35 years, a term that ends next year, but is certain to continue.

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The General Services Administration built a three-story addition below the main rotunda, on land that had formerly held the tracks. Eight new courtrooms were built for the District Court and other courts, and two courtrooms were tucked into parts of the old building. The courts moved in in 1992.

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In the course of the renovation, a lot of attention was paid to repairing and refurbishing decorative details of the original structure, and to correcting the great problem of the original construction—the skylight, which was our main clue in this week's Where in the World puzzle. Almost from the day the station opened, the skylight leaked water onto the floor below.

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Take the frequent and heavy rains of the Northwest, add a large open marble floor and some serious staircases heading down from it, the magnitude of the skylight problem becomes clear. While the railroads had money, they kept on repairing the damage, but eventually they simply sealed it over, cutting off the natural light. The accumulation of water damage, falling plaster and more led to the rotunda being closed to the public for the last ten years of its life as a station.

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The repair and renovation included re-opening the skylight, with better sealing, and replacement of 40,000 pounds of copper. The interior plasterwork, which had holes as big as eight feet across in places was repaired, and spaces were re-used for new purposes, including the dining area in a former waiting room.

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But the biggest change, leaping from renovation to innovation, was to use the terminal's walls and spaces to install artwork by Dale Chihuly, including a spectacular chandelier hanging at the center of the rotunda, and other works occupying the arched spaces on the next floor up.

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Union Station is on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma, opposite a station on the Link light-rail system and served by several buses as well. Parking is available in the next-door lot at the Washington State Historical Society Museum, and "across the tracks" at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. A bridge with more Chihuly art lining it connects the Glass Museum with the station and historical museum.

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And congratulations to George G, who identified Union Station as our mystery site this week!

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The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

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