Dayton Union Station

Dayton Union Station
inter-city rail station
Dayton Union Station in 1904
General information
Location	130 West 6th Street Dayton, OH 45402
Coordinates	39.7548°N 84.1940°W / 39.7548; -84.1940
Elevation	740 ft (230 m)
History
Opened	1900
Closed	1979
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Richmond toward Kansas City National Limited Columbus toward New York or Washington, D.C. Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station Whitfield toward Cincinnati Toledo Division Johnson toward Detroit Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station West Carrollton toward Cincinnati Cincinnati – Cleveland Osborn toward Cleveland Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Richmond toward St. Louis St. Louis – Pittsburgh via Dayton Alpha toward Pittsburgh National toward Cincinnati Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway Terminus

Dayton Union Station was a railroad station serving Dayton, Ohio with daily passenger trains of several railroads. The station was located at 251 W. Sixth Street at the intersection of Ludlow Street, and it opened in 1900, replacing an earlier depot built in the mid-1850s. It was owned by the Dayton Union Railroad Co., which was owned by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. Through a series of mergers over the years, it was ultimately owned by the New York Central Railroad, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and Pennsylvania Railroad.

Colloquially called the "Tower Depot," it included a seven-story clock tower. In the first 30 years of operation, the station hosted as many as 66 passenger trains a day. In 1931 the station opened an elevated platform to alleviate congestion between trains, streetcars and automobiles.

Famous people who stopped by the station included child actress Shirley Temple in 1944, President Harry S. Truman in 1948 and President Ronald Reagan in 1983, both of the latter two making campaign stops, Reagan making a whistle stop tour.

Named trains

Station interior, 1908

Operator	Named train	Western or northern destination	Eastern or southern destination	Year begun	Year discontinued
Amtrak	National Limited	Kansas City, Missouri	New York, New York	1971	1979
Baltimore and Ohio	Great Lakes Limited	Detroit, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1947	1950
	Cincinnatian	Detroit, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1950	1971
	Night Express	Detroit, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1960	1967
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis New York Central (after 1930)	Cincinnati Mercury	Cincinnati, Ohio	Cleveland, Ohio	1952	1956
	Cleveland Special / Cincinnati Special	Cincinnati, Ohio	Cleveland, Ohio	1919–1924 1932	1957
	Michigan Special / Ohio Special	Detroit, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1930	1958
	Midnight Special succeeded by the Night Special	Cincinnati, Ohio	Cleveland, Ohio	1939 successor: 1958	1958 successor: 1967
	Northern Arrow	Mackinaw City, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1935	1961
New York Central Railroad	Ohio State Limited	Cincinnati, Ohio	New York, New York	1924	1967
New York Central Railroad	Queen City	Detroit, Michigan	Cincinnati, Ohio	1949	1957
New York Central Railroad	Florida Sunbeam	Detroit, Michigan	Miami, Florida	1936	1949
Pennsylvania Railroad	American	St. Louis, Missouri	New York, New York	1925	1956
	Buckeye	Chicago, Illinois	Columbus, Ohio	1957	1969
Pennsylvania Railroad	Indianapolis Limited	Indianapolis, Indiana	New York, New York	1950 1953	1957
Pennsylvania Railroad Penn Central (1968–1970)	Penn Texas	St. Louis, Missouri	New York, New York	1948	1970
Pennsylvania Railroad Penn Central (1968–1971)	Spirit of St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	New York, New York	1927	1971
Pennsylvania Railroad	St. Louisan	St. Louis, Missouri	New York, New York	1913	1967

Decline

In summer 1964 part of the station was demolished to make way for an extension of Sixth Street. Amtrak took over passenger service in 1971, and cut back service to a single train, the Spirit of St. Louis, inherited from Penn Central. That train was subsequently extended to Kansas City and renamed the National Limited.

The National Limited at the station in February 1978

The last train out of the station was the National Limited, which was eliminated in October, 1979 when U.S. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams opted to eliminate half a dozen Amtrak routes he deemed lower performing. The last remnants of the station were removed altogether in 1989.

External links

• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Early Years -Photos of the station in its earliest decades
• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: 1940s & 1950s -Photos of the station from the mid-20th Century
• Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives - Dayton’s Union Station: Later Years 1960s+ -Photos of the station from the 1960s to the 1980s