Photo Album

In 1903 Teddy Roosevelt signed the act that paved the way for the capital’s grand terminal. After the Station opened, the former Rough Rider stopped by and chatted with some of the men who kept the wheels rolling.

The clever McNulty Brothers rigged up a well-braced moving scaffold in order to complete the grueling construction of and delicate finishing work on the Station’s Main Hall 220 feet long ceiling from 1905 to 1907. This eliminated having to tear down and rebuild the scaffolding to reach each section, a technique that was used again in the 1980s for restoration.

When it first opened in 1907, Union Station’s 760-foot Concourse, which was open to train platforms, was the largest room in the world.

Six sculptures by Louis Saint-Gaudens stand above the Ionic columns along the Station’s central portico. They represent fire (Prometheus), electricity (Thales), freedom (Themis), imagination (Apollo), agriculture (Ceres), and mechanics (Archimedes)—all pursuits that built America.