Union Station (Davenport, Iowa) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Union Station and Burlington Freight House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
South façade along the railroad tracks
Location in Iowa Show map of Iowa Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	120 S. Harrison St. Davenport, Iowa
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1924
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
MPS	Davenport MRA
NRHP reference No.	83002521
Added to NRHP	July 7, 1983

Union Station, also known as Union Station and Burlington Freight House, is a cool historic building located near the river in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It's so important that it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This area of downtown has many old and interesting buildings. For example, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Freight House is nearby. Also close by are the Dillon Memorial and The Linograph Company Building. Across the street to the south, you can find the W.D. Petersen Memorial Music Pavilion and the famous Mississippi River.

A Look Back: The History of Union Station

Union Station

People started talking about having train service in Davenport way back in 1842. But there was a big problem: no bridge had ever crossed the Mississippi River before! That changed in 1856 when the very first railroad bridge was built between Davenport and Rock Island, Illinois. This was a huge step for the city's train history.

By 1895, many train lines already ran through Davenport. A man named Frank Blair created a new company called the Davenport, Rock Island and North Western Railway (DRI & NW). Within five years, this company finished its route to Clinton, Iowa. They also built the Crescent Bridge in 1899. This bridge crossed the Mississippi River between Davenport and Rock Island. It was built a bit downstream from that very first railroad bridge.

In 1901, two big train companies, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (often called the Milwaukee Road) and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CBQ), bought the DRI & NW. The Milwaukee Road already had trains in Davenport, but the CBQ did not. This purchase brought the CBQ's operations to the city. Each of these three train companies had its own station in Davenport.

In 1916, they decided to build a special "union station" on the riverfront. A union station is a place where different train companies can share one big station. The plans were updated in 1923. The next year, in 1924, the DRI & NW and its parent companies built Union Station.

After World War II, fewer people started riding trains. Train passenger service slowly stopped in the 1950s. The building later became a Trailways bus station. From the 1990s until 2017, the main floor of the station was used as a visitor's center. The upper floors and the freight house are now used as office spaces. The building got a big update in 2009. Today, Union Station is the only passenger train station left in Davenport.

Building Design: The Architecture of Union Station

Burlington Freight House

Union Station and the Burlington Freight House are actually two separate buildings. They are connected by a simple wooden shelter. The station building has two main fronts. One side faces the train tracks to the south. The other side faces a parking lot and River Drive to the north. The freight house was also built with loading docks on both its north and south sides. This made it easy to move cargo in and out.

The station is a two-story building made of tan brick. It's built in the Georgian Revival style. This style often looks like old Greek temples. The building has a concrete base. Both the north and south sides of the station have a special front that looks like a Greek temple. This design highlights the main entrances. This "temple" part has four columns that are attached to the building. These columns are square and get narrower at the top. They have fancy tops called capitals.

Above the columns, there's a classic entablature. This part includes small block-like decorations called dentils. It also has round decorations and layered flat bands. A heavy decorative edge, called a cornice, goes around the top of the entire building. The building has rectangular windows on both floors. However, the windows on the first floor have arched frames. Concrete pieces called keystones are above these windows. Deep awnings are placed above the main doors.

The Burlington Freight House is a single-story building. It's built with the same materials as Union Station. As mentioned, it used to have docks with very large doors on both its north and south sides. However, the south dock has been removed to make space for an access ramp. The freight house has the same architectural style as the station. Its decorations are simple. They include a horizontal concrete band at the top, near the cornice. It also has concrete window sills.