The skyrocketing popularity of passenger train travel resulted in Union Pacific replacing Omaha’s old Union Station with an extravagant new building in 1931. It was built on the site of the old station at 801 S. 10th Street in the area that would become known as the Rail and Commerce District. The new station, in addition to the renovation of the Burlington Station to the south, provided “Omaha railroad passengers, terminal facilities equal to those of any city of its size in the country.”
The new Union Station was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood of Los Angeles and constructed by Peter Kiewit and Sons. The steel frame structure was covered with glazed terra cotta and featured sculpted figures of a brakeman, locomotive engineer, civil engineer and railroad mechanic atop its entrances on the west and north sides of the building.
It was the first U.P. station designed in the Art Deco style. Inside, the focal point was the Main Hall with its 60-ft. ceilings that featured sculpted plaster painted with gold and silver trim, ten cathedral-like plate glass windows, patterned terrazzo floors, colonnettes of blue Belgian marble and wainscoting of black Belgian marble. Hanging from the ceiling were six chandeliers measuring 13 ft. tall and 5 ft. in diameter.
The station provided travelers with a wide range of amenities including a dining room, gift shop, soda fountain, telegraph and telephone rooms, barbershop, and a ladies’ lounge. In what is now the Swanson Family Gallery on the eastern end of the station was the popular Hayden House restaurant. The restaurant was divided into two with one side offering a formal dining experience and the other à la carte meals. The room was decorated with six murals depicting stages in the development of transportation, painted by Los Angeles artist Joseph Keller.
The building’s 13 tracks established Omaha as an important passenger hub in the west when it opened in 1931, serving eight railroads including Union Pacific, Rock Island, and Missouri Pacific. When combined with Burlington Station, it made Omaha the fourth-largest railroad center in the country. Union Station peaked with 64 passenger trains and 10,000 passengers per day. The concourse connecting the two stations was erected over the railyard in 1937.
During World War II the railroads became a critical tool with which the military mobilized troops and supplies. To assist in this effort, a USO center with letter writing facilities, a dormitory and shower and bath facilities was added to Union Station. Following the war, the combination of increased air travel and completion of the interstate system significantly reduced passenger traffic starting in the 1950s. As a result, the federal government consolidated passenger rail service when it formed Amtrak in 1971. In the aftermath, U.P. announced it would cease passenger service on May 1, with the last passenger train departing Union Station at 2 AM.
Afterward, there were multiple suggestions for Union Station, including converting it to a shopping mall; a downtown campus for UNO; a sports hall of fame; a combined library, museum, and auditorium; and even a theater for the Omaha Junior League. When none came to fruition, there was talk of demolishing it due to the cost to maintain and operate the building. The Nebraska State Historical Society managed to save it from the wrecking ball, in part, by nominating it as a national historical site.
Following the preference of Mayor Eugene Leahy, the building was converted into a museum, and the Omaha Public Library saw it as a potential home for its Byron Reed collection. The collection, which had been willed to the library after Reed passed away in 1891, consisted of rare books, manuscripts, medals, autographs, and both American and foreign coins. His collection of colonial and U.S. coinage was said to be one of the most complete in the United States. It remained in bank vaults as the library couldn’t afford the security and insurance required to display it.
U.P. donated the building which had been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 to the City of Omaha in 1973. The Western Heritage Museum moved in and opened its doors in 1975. The building was designated an Omaha Landmark in 1978. The Reed collection was finally moved out of the vaults and into the museum in 1985 under the stipulation that a portion always be accessible to the public.
Its most extensive restoration was completed in 1996. It included a new parking deck, roof, mechanical and electrical systems, office space, a gift shop, and its authentic soda fountain. Just a year later, it was renamed the Durham Western Heritage Museum in honor of Charles and Margre Durham, whose generosity made it possible. Charles was an engineer who built HDR into one of the country’s largest engineering and architectural firms. Margre served on the District 66 School Board for 12 years, becoming its first female president in 1967, and received three honorary doctorate degrees for her support of higher education and civic leadership.
Twenty-seven years after it opened, the museum celebrated its one millionth visitor in 2002. It has since been named a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and has partnered with the Library of Congress and National Archives, bringing new exhibits and programming well beyond its original focus, prompting a change to its current name.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016, the building houses not just the Byron Reed collection and exhibits but an extensive photo archive, train cars and locomotives, a historic streetcar, and a grocery store representing the one opened by Warren Buffett’s grandfather, Ernest.
Today, the building remains one of the finest examples of the Art Deco style in the Midwest and continues to pay homage to the importance of railroad travel in Omaha.
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2024 Google Earth image of Union Station, present-day Durham Museum.
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Sources
- Omaha World-Herald archives
- https://durhammuseum.org/our-museum/history-of-union-station/
- https://durhammuseum.org/our-museum/historic-timeline/
- https://www.nps.gov/places/omaha-union-station.htm#:~:text=Union%20Station%20was%20designed%20by,covered%20with%20glazed%20terra%20cotta.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Union_Station
https://herringbonefreelance.com/a-luxurious-art-deco-train-station-in-omaha/ - https://durhammuseum.org/back-in-time-restaurant/
- https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NE-01-055-0018
- https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2008/04/08/philanthropic-giant-charles-durham-transformed-unmc/
- https://chsfomaha.org/halloffame/margre-henningson-durham/
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