The old post card titled Train Sheds at Union Station shows a train steamed up and ready to go. The legend on the back of the card reads: Union Station, Kansas City. The third largest passenger station in the world. The main building covers a ground area of 5.57 acres. The waiting room alone is 352 feet long and can accommodate 10,000 people, the population of a good-sized town. Total cost of station and terminals $50 million. Two hundred and sixty scheduled trains arrive daily, making an average of 35,000 people passing through each day. The post card was published by Hall Brothers of Kansas City some time after the station began operations in 1914. There were many other views printed by other card companies, some showing the station and trains at night, with great headlights from engines and a full moon illuminating the scene. Architects say the station plan was a departure in design. Most other big city railway stations were actually terminals with trains backing into the stations to unload their passengers. The card shows Jarvis Hunt's plan of having trains approach from east and west on a rail system which ran directly under the station, with trains stopping just below the long waiting room.Passengers left the trains under the protective sheds and climbed stairs which led to the waiting room. Much later escalators were installed. Kansas City Star, April 1, 1972.
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