(rshsdepot) El Paso, TX

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From Saturday's El Paso Times.
 
 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
Transportation Communications Newsletter
_http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/_ 
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/)  
 
 
Link to photos:
_http://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/ElPasoTexas/El-Paso-Union-Station.
htm_ 
(http://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/ElPasoTexas/El-Paso-Union-Station.htm) 
 
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Union Depot turns 100 today
 
By Ramon Bracamontes
El Paso Times
Saturday, March 25, 2006
 
For 100 years, the Union Depot station and its distinguished but pointy red  
brick bell tower has stood as a sentinel over Downtown El Paso.
Once a hub of  activity with 22 passenger trains, adjacent hotels, bars and 
restaurants, the  building today is nothing more than a place of reflection. 
While still  elegant, the train station is tranquil, inducing awe in only 
those who have  never gone inside before.
“This is probably the most beautiful yet unknown  building in this city,” 
said Prince McKenzie, of the El Paso Railroad &  Transportation Museum. 
To get more people to fully appreciate this  historical gem, city officials 
and history buffs are throwing it a birthday  party today. The Union Passenger 
Station Centennial Celebration will be from 2  to 5 p.m. at the station, 700 
San Francisco .
The station, with its arched  ceilings, Italian marble pillars and Victorian 
architecture, opened in March  1906 because El Paso had become a major 
thoroughfare for railroads. 
The  railroads — Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, Galveston, Harrisburg, San 
Antonio,  Texas, Pacific and Mexico Central — all had stations in El Paso and all 
had  trains moving in and out.
“You could not get across the country without  having to pass through El Paso,
” said McKenzie, who will give tours of the  station today. “Every major 
railroad stopped here, and this station was  operating 24 hours a day.”
William F. “Bill” Lewis, 84, was a part of the  station during its heyday. 
He was a railroad conductor for 40 years based in El  Paso. He retired from 
Amtrak.
“The three-to-midnight shift was hectic,” Lewis  said. “We had soldiers 
moving through here every day.”
Across the street from  the station — where Studio 69 is now — were hotels, 
bars, restaurants and  boardinghouses.
Inside the station was a bar, a Western Union office and  waiting areas with 
separate rooms for whites and blacks.
On the second floor  were offices and rooms for conductors, employees and 
other VIPs. Twenty-two  passenger trains departed or arrived each day. 
In the back was the famous  Harvey House, at the time one of the city’s finer 
restaurants.
“Tourists were  everywhere,” Lewis said. “It was hectic, nice.”
Most of the activity ended in  the early 1970s when travel by airplane and 
automobile became more convenient.  Only Amtrak remained as a customer at the 
station. 
Amtrak still operates out  of the building but has only six trains a week.
In 1975, the city of El Paso  purchased the building and moved its Sun Metro 
operations there, said Camille  Salcido, Sun Metro Transit community relations 
manager.
During the early  1980s, the Union Depot underwent a $1 million restoration 
to its vintage 1906  look. 
“What you see today is what it looked like 100 years ago,” said Robert  
Kelly, who oversaw the restoration. “Even the bell tower looks exactly the  same.”
The Union Passenger Station was listed in the National Register of  Historic 
Places in 1975.
 
Ramon Bracamontes may be reached at _rbracamontes_@_elpasotimes.com_ 
(mailto:rbracamontes_@_elpasotimes.com) ;  
546-6142.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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