Richmond Virginia

The Main Street Station

This station was originally proposed, and plans were developed, in the early 1890’s. At that time Richardson Romanesque Architecture was in fashion. However, due to “economic conditions” (i.e. the famous depression of 1893 and subsequent years), construction on the building was not begun until the spring of 1900. By that time Daniel Burnham had begun his Beaux Arts masterpiece now known as Washington Union Station, and Richardson Romanesque architecture was “out of fashion.” Nevertheless, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, with its headquarters newly relocated to Richmond, spearheaded the building of Main Street Station as originally designed. The Seaboard Airline Railroad, joined with the C&O in the construction efforts.

On November 2, 1901, the first train to officially leave the station was an SAL train bound for Tampa Florida. A C&O Newport News to St. Louis train followed shortly afterwards. And Main Street, located in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond near the beginning of the historic Kanawha and James River Canal, became a busy station for the next 50 years.

But as happened in many other cities and towns in the US, after World War II cars and airplanes became the “preferred” mode of transportation for many people, and Main Street Station declined. Symbolic of this decline was the routing chosen for the Richmond portion of the new North South Atlantic Coast “Speedway,” I-95 (note, don’t laugh, this now congested, slow-moving roadway was once seen as a “Speedway”). The road was built in such a way that piers for the bridge built to carry auto traffic through the area, were constructed cheek by jowl beside Main Street station.

In 1949 a photo in the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper showed Main Street Station surrounded by the bridges of the C&O, SAL, and Southern (down beneath the area). This view later became a popular post card sold in the Richmond area. One can’t help but wonder if some highway engineer, full of an overweening pride that only access to unlimited amounts of project money can give, saw this I-95 routing as a way to take “revenge” for the earlier technology that Main Street represented.

SAL left the station first, choosing to route its trains through the Broad Street Station via a switchback shortly after its construction in the 1930’s. Thus, when I was in college and would take the train home, I would arrive via the C&O at Main Street, and then have to catch a cab, along with all 200 other college students going home on “break,” and dash up to the Broad Street station to continue my journey north.

On October 15, 1975 Amtrak, the inheritor of all passenger train operations, pulled out of Main Street. After that the Main Street Station went through a rather checkered history as a “Mall” of sorts. The problems were many. First there was a devastating fire almost 8 years to the day from when Amtrak pulled out. Second, urban decay became the fate of the entire Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond. Third, through the years there have been a series of high water “events” (call them floods if you will). These events culminated with the waters of Hurricane Agnes washing to first floor of the Main Street Station in August of 1972. At last a floodwall was constructed. But since then, there has been yet one more flood owing to a design flaw in the floodwall. All of these factors contributed to the continuing decline of the Main Street Station.

Finally, in the 1990’s the City of Richmond got involved in the effort to restore the station. They sensed that Main Street Station was the key to any restoration efforts in Shockoe Bottom This was sort of ironic because at one point, after the fire, city officials almost destroyed the tower of the station, considered by many to be the “key” to the whole Richardson Romanesque structure. Their goal at that time was to “save” I-95. However, cooler heads prevailed and the tower stayed and thus the building was intact when the restoration effort finally gathered momentum. Amtrak agreed to work with the city and so, in the fall of 2003 train service returned.

However, even that return was filled with drama. On the day of the Official Grand Re-Opening, officials gathered at Main Street Station to wait for the first Southbound Amtrak NE Corridor Train to arrive. Unfortunately, the train never made it. CSX had a derailment up near Alexandria that completely blocked their North-South Rail line (the old Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad) for the entire day. And so the eagerly awaited NE Corridor train was aborted at Alexandria’s Union Terminal.

But now, the trains come. Currently, it is only those trains heading down to Williamsburg and Newport News. But Richmond would like to have the Florida Trains stop at Main Street as well. Belatedly, the City Officials have discovered that the Staples Mills Station, while it is great in terms of parking your car and “commuting” up the east coast, makes a terrible destination for folks coming into Richmond (I mean, you are greeted by a series of strip malls and fast food places, and that ain’t Richmond).

However, before Florida trains can arrive and depart out of Main Street, massive work to the track both into and out of Main Street, needs to occur. This will take time and money, lots of it. In addition it will take a greater understanding on the part of the freight railroads as to the importance of providing good passenger service as a way of developing greater public support for their enterprise. However, there are those, including yours truly, who believe that one day these two items will be in place. And then Main Street Station can assume its rightful place as a truly beautiful historic gateway into one of our nation’s most historic cities.