BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Union Station (Interior)

DC -- Union Station (Interior):

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. USI_160227_005.JPG: The Genesis of Union Station: The railroad first arrived in the District in 1835. Although city leaders had thrown in their lot with the C&O Canal, they allowed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to lay tracks for a depot at Second Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Some residents worried about the coal-burning steam locomotives exploding, so engines were not allowed into the city. Instead, horses hauled the train cars between the city boundary (Florida Avenue) and the depot. Sixteen years later the City Council finally reversed its stand on steam engines, and the B&O built a new station on New Jersey Avenue. Another railroad, the Pennsylvania, built its own station at Constitution Avenue and Sixth Street, NW, in 1873. With the city crisscrossed by street-level railroad tracks, trans frequently blocked roads and, much worse, collided with pedestrians and vehicles, to devastating results. Tracks and coal piles marred the Mall. Things had to change. The Evening Star newspaper led the campaign. Proponents of the City Beautiful movement, inspired by the neoclassical architecture of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago Worlds Fair), joined in. They pushed to restore the Mall as a park, and to replace the rundown area around it with gracious columned buildings. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation creating Union Station, the union of two railroads and eliminating dangerous crossings. For the design, the government tapped Daniel Burnham, the renowned American architect who had shaped the Columbian Exposition. When it opened in 1907, Union Station became a ceremonial gateway to the nation's capital and signaled our country's emergence as an important player on the world stage. One critic noted that the station perhaps represents the most effective blending of beauty and utility that this country has ever seen.
2. USI_160227_008.JPG: A view from the Capitol of the Baltimore and Ohio's first depot, established in an old house on Second Street at Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
3. USI_160227_014.JPG: A Pullman porter makes up a berth, 1942. A. Philip Randolph helped organize the porters in 1925. Protected by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black labor union to be recognized by a major US corporation (Pullman Co.), porter jobs were among the most prestigious open to African American men. In 1963, Randolph helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
4. USI_160227_020.JPG: Marchers arrive at Union Station, 1963
5. USI_160227_023.JPG: Taxicabs await passengers, 1914
6. USI_160227_024.JPG: During the Civil War (1861-1865), tracks were laid across Long Bridge (near today's 14th Street Bridge) to link Washington with points south.
7. USI_160227_032.JPG: Former President Theodore Roosevelt arrives at Union Station
8. USI_160227_037.JPG: Soldiers, sailors, and civilians crowd Union Station in 1942, during World War II.
9. USI_160227_041.JPG: Pedestrians, horses, bicycles, streetcars, and automobiles mingle in front of Union Station as a British war delegation arrives, April 1917.
10. USI_160227_046.JPG: The Pennsylvania (or Baltimore and Potomac) Railroad Station, at Sixth and Constitution from 1878 to 1908. The National Gallery of Art opened on the site in 1941.
11. USI_160227_051.JPG: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station, at New Jersey Avenue and C Street, NW, from 1851 to 1907, and its waiting room. A park [Senate Park] occupies the site today.
12. USI_160227_061.JPG: Looking south at Union Station construction, 1905. The Library of Congress and Capitol form the backdrop.
13. USI_160227_070.JPG: From Swampoodle to NoMa: The neighborhood surrounding Union Station was called Swampoodle. Its earliest residents included the men who built the Capitol and White House in the early 1800s, mostly Irish immigrants and free African Americans. Tiber Creek flowed through the settlement, serving as a sewer and often flooding its banksand making life miserable for nearby households. Finally, in the 1870s, the city diverted the creek underground. Starting in 1835, railroad tracks ran parallel to the Tiber, prompting factories and warehouses to locate nearby. St. Aloysius Church opened in 1859 at North Capitol and I Streets, NW, to serve the large Irish Catholic population. The Government Printing Office opened a block south in 1861, offering hundreds of jobs. By the early 1880s, brick rowhouses filled the blocks around the GPO, sheltering clerks, professionals, and businessmen. The once turbulent section had become a quiet residential district, a GPO employee noted. Then in 1903 the government condemned a swath of Swampoodle to build Union Station. Blocks of houses and businesses disappeared. Over time the remaining neighborhood deteriorated, like many of DCs older sections. Urban renewal during the 1960s razed dilapidated housing, displacing hundreds of families. Some were later able to move back to the Northwest side of the neighborhood, but the Northeast side was reserved for industrial use because of its proximity to the railroad. The 21st century ushered in great change to the Northeast side. Businesses and federal agencies renovated old buildings or put up new ones. A Metrorail station opened at Florida and New York Avenues. Developers built new apartments. NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) was born.
14. USI_160227_085.JPG: The Gonzaga band, photographed about 1900. A 2014 view of the NoMa neighborhood, looking north from the top deck of the Union Station parking garage. The H Street Hopscotch Bridge is in the foreground.
15. USI_160227_092.JPG: St. Aloysius Catholic Church, left, opened in 1859, and the affiliated Gonzaga College High School opened next door in 1871. The church closed in 2012 but the school, whose roots go back to 1821, continues to thrive on North Capitol Street. The Gonzaga band, photographed about 1900.
16. USI_160227_095.JPG: Residents of the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged enjoy sewing, 1939. The home, right, opened in 1874 at Third and H Streets, NE. Its building is now part of the Senate Square condos.
17. USI_160227_096.JPG: Jobs in Swampoodle: Farbers Whistle Bottling Works, above, moved into the former Pabst Distribution Plant, at North Capitol and G Streets, NE, after Prohibition outlawed beer in 1917. (Left) The Government Printing Office machine shop, about 1909.
18. USI_160227_099.JPG: Dormitories for war workers, 1917. In the background, from right: Union Station; the City Post Office (today the Post Office Museum), built on the old ballpark; and the Government Printing Office.
19. USI_160227_104.JPG: Swampoodle ballpark, 1888. The white tower of the B&O Railroad Station is visible in the distance, at right.
20. USI_160227_109.JPG: A bridge crossed Tiber Creek at H Street, in the heart of Swampoodle. The creek was diverted underground in the mid-1870s.
21. USI_160227_112.JPG: (Above) The 200 block of H Street, NE, with a view of the tunnel under the elevated tracks. (Right) A streetcar emerges on the other side.
22. USI_160227_115.JPG: Young residents of Sursum Corda housing, built by a nonprofit sponsored by Gonzaga College High School and St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 1971.
23. USI_160227_118.JPG: Uline Arena at Third and M Streets, NE, built as a sports and event venue by ice manufacturer Mike Uline in 1941. In 2014, it awaited redevelopment.
24. USI_160227_121.JPG: Roller derby at the Washington Coliseum (formerly Uline Arena), 1972. The Washington-Baltimore Cats (in white shirts) battle the New York Bombers.
25. USI_160419_08.JPG: Going Grand The Main Hall's Center Cafe and circular planters, both added as part of the late-1980s [???] renovation, are being removed, with the Main Hall regaining the grand volume it boasted when Union Station opened in 1908. Restoration of the National Treasure is being directed by the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation. Learn more about the stewardship of this historic resource at www.usrcdc.com
26. USI_160419_12.JPG: Main Hall, 1950s
27. USI_160419_15.JPG: Main Hall, 1943
28. USI_160419_18.JPG: Main Hall, 1930s
29. USI_160419_24.JPG: Main Hall, 1910s
30. USI_160608_39.JPG: There used to be a two-story cafe here
31. USI_160608_52.JPG: You can see some panels had to be replaced entirely. This is probably where the plumbing facilities were.
32. USI_160608_58.JPG: They're still doing ceiling work here
33. USI_160817_66.JPG: National Trust for Historic Preservation National Preservation Honor Award ... October 13, 1989
34. USI_160817_73.JPG: Mayor Barry's Environmental Design Award First Award for Restoration Architecture 1989
35. USI_160817_75.JPG: Andrew E. Bernasconi 1869-1942 Born in Varese, Italy Died in Columbia, SC Artist Stonecarver Superintendent of carving for the construction of Union Station The six granite statues over the entrance -- Agriculture, Imagination, Electricity, Fire, Mechanics, and Freedom -- were carved from Vermont granite over a six year period by Andrew E. Bernasconi of whom Augustus St. Gaudens, the sculptor of the statues, said "His carvings exceed my own talents as a sculptor."
36. USI_161015_013.JPG: I asked the building manager if I could take pictures from higher up and got a run around. Thunder Grill took pity on me.
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