The Durham Museum

In a joint statement on March 31, 1929, plans were announced by both Union Pacific and Burlington officials detailing the construction of a new Union Station and for the remodeling of the Burlington Depot. The purpose of the collaboration between the two railroads was to provide "...Omaha railroad passengers, terminal facilities equal to those of any city of its size in the country."

Construction began on Union Station in May of 1929. It was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and Company in the art deco style of architecture. Mr. Underwood designed every detail of the building, including light fixtures, filing cabinets, and doorplates. Each component contains art deco details.

The new Union Station, with some 124,000 square feet of interior space, was constructed on the same site as the first Union Station, taking twenty months to complete. The cost, $3.5 million, was one-tenth of what it would require to construct today.

The focal point of the station is the current Suzanne and Walter Scott Great Hall. Measuring one hundred sixty feet by seventy-two feet it is spanned by a sixty-five foot high ceiling. The Hall contains ten cathedral-like plate glass windows, a patterned terrazzo floor, columnettes of blue Belgian marble and a wainscoting of black Belgian marble. Six immense chandeliers, thirteen feet tall and suspended 20 feet from the ceiling, light the Great Hall.

The station originally boasted thirteen sets of tracks supporting trains that carried passengers to and from Omaha. The tracks were located to the south of the station. As planned, the increased trackage allowed Union Station to support Union Pacific, Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, Milwaukee, Wabash, Great Western, Illinois Central and North Western Railroads. Combining efforts with the Burlington Depot made Omaha the fourth largest railroad center in the United States.

Facilities were designed into the station to provide for the convenience of passengers and included a taxi stand, baggage check, dining room, gift shop and soda fountain, telegraph and telephone room, barber shop, first-aid station, and a ladies lounge. During the World War II years a USO center with letter writing facilities, dormitory and shower/bath facilities was carved out of existing space.

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