Chattanooga Tennessee

Terminal Station

What do: The Chicago World’s Fair, the New York City Public Library, the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco CA, The Vanderbilt House in Newport (RI), and the Terminal Station in Chattanooga TN have in common? The answer, as I am sure many have guessed, is they are all premier examples of the Beaux-Arts style of Architecture.

The Beau Arts Style of Architecture was a popular style in America from about 1885 to 1920. The name comes from a particular school of architecture, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris France (Beaux-Arts is the French word we translate as “Fine Arts” in English).

The Beaux-Arts style was marked by a preference for using designs and ornamentation from earlier periods of architecture, primarily from Roman and Renaissance buildings. In addition to the columns arches etc. that one would expect from a design with this parentage, it also included designs worked into the exterior walls. These designs were made of the same material as the rest of the wall and thus made to seem as if they were a regular, essential part of the structure and not just a bric-a-brac ornamentation (though, in fact, that is exactly what they were/are).

Of all the buildings listed above, one stands out as being able to claim that it was a “prize-winning” example of Beaux-Arts Architecture. In 1900 Donald Barber was a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He submitted a design for a building in a contest the school sponorsed, and won. Several years later, now a graduate, he was approached by the President of the Southern Railway about designing a Terminal building for the railroad to use in Chattanooga Tennessee. According to the records, the design he presented, and executed, was the design he had won the prize with in Paris.

The Chattanooga Terminal was opened in 1909 and was used by the Southern Railway until 1970. In 1973 it was re-developed as a hotel and opened as a Hilton. In 1989, as a prelude to a major renovation, the Hilton was closed. After it was restored, it was re-opened, this time as a Holiday Inn.

We stayed there in 2006. The interior of the Terminal is now a combination Front Desk, Lobby, Bar and Restaurant. The actual hotel section with rooms is in back of the terminal building. However, there are also some old style “Pullman cars” parked on non-functioning tracks beween the two structures which can be rented for a night’s stay. Also out back, in addition to static displays of various pieces of equipment, there is one functioning piece, a restored New Orleans Street car. When we were there, it was possible to take a brief ride on this specimen on a short circuit around the hotel’s property.

If you ever go to Chattanooga Tennessee, and there is a lot to see and do there, I strongly recommend you consider staying at this land-mark, design award-winning structure. And by all means, ride the Trolley if you can.

Jacksonville Florida

Jacksonville Union Terminal

This Beau Arts station, designed by Murchison K. Mackenzie (or possibly Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison a New York Architect who was the son of a Confederate Colonel from North Carolina depending upon your source), was opened in 1919 to serve the burgeoning passenger traffic, particularly in the winter, between the frozen north, places like New York City, Cleveland, Chicago and Charleston WV, and the growing balmy beaches on Florida’s “Gold Coast,” Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and the rest. As such, most of the passenger traffic this station saw was “through” traffic. That is to say, in its heyday 85% of the passengers who used this station had arrived from elsewhere and were going to another location. Thus, this was a “Terminal” in name only for the vast majority of the travelers. Jacksonville was not their destination or the point of departure. They were only there to change trains, have their car switched from one train to another, or to use the station’s platforms as a good place to get out and stretch while the train’s operating crew changed and the train was serviced with fuel, water, and all the other items a passenger train needs (contrary to some Congressional expectations) to operate comfortably and efficiently.

The first Jacksonville Union Terminal was built in 1904. Interestingly enough, when the 1919 structure was built to replace the by-then inadequate structure, instead of tearing down the old station, it was incorporated into the new structure as a baggage and perishable freight facility. Thus, even today, it sits beside, and in the shadow of, its replacement.

The biggest problem with the Jacksonville Union Terminal was getting the trains into and out of it. Because of its location along the St. John’s River, a location dictated in part by the need to be near the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), many of the trains coming and going, had to back into the terminal, or, back out when departing. While most of the trains coming in from or going onto the FEC simply pulled through on the station trackage located on the river side of the building, trains from the other lines using the terminal, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern Railway (and its subsidiary line The Georgia, Southern and Florida Railroad) were forced to make several inconvenient, and potentially hazardous, switching moves. This awkward situation was compounded when, as a result of labor strife, the FEC stopped all passenger traffic in 1963.

Jacksonville Union Terminal, nevertheless, soldiered on into the early days of Amtrak. It finally closed on January 3, 1974, when Amtrak’s Floridian made the last stop at this facility. The next day Amtrak opened its new facility on the northern outskirts of town.

The new location, is not as convenient to downtown Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Landing as the old Jacksonville Union Terminal. However, it is convenient to the tracks Amtrak uses for its “Silver Service” trains. Further, it allows a “run-through” operation (except when the Sunset Limited ran through Jacksonville on its New Orleans LA to Orlando FL leg). While this new facility has never seen 115 trains and 20,000 passengers, the design capabilities of Jacksonville Union Terminal, it nevertheless can be quite busy in the mornings and again in the evenings. Many times I have had to “wade through” a huge crowd of people in order to board at this new station. It does appear to have some expansion room available so that it could handle more trains and people. However, it does not, IMHO, have as much as might possibly be needed if the “dream” of a high speed rail line up and down the east coast is realized.

As for Jacksonville Union Terminal, it has survived to “live another day.” Now it is the key structure in Jacksonville’s Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. Prime F. Osborn was the last president of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and, consequently, the one who led it into the CSX merger.

Fort Payne Alabama

The Southern Railway Depot

A few years ago, A. & I were headed to Birmingham AL in order to attend the wedding of a cousin of hers. As I was doing my “guidebook research” in the AAA Guidebook on the lookout for interesting stops to make along the way, I was struck by the entry for Ft. Payne AL. Among the attractions listed was this Richardson Romanesque Depot originally constructed by the Southern Railway when it was under the guidance and control of J.P. Morgan.

Ft. Payne AL has a fairly long history for that region, since it was originally a Cherokee town called “Willstown” named for its headman, a man by the name of “Will.” During that early period it was most noteworthy for being one of the homes of the famous Cherokee, Sequoyah, the “inventor” of their “syllabary.” During the 1830’s a unit of the US Army under the command of Major John Payne built a fort here. The purpose of the fort was to provide a place for the internment of the Cherokee immediately prior to their beginning the infamous and sad “Trail of Tears” which led them from their native homelands to the Oklahoma Territory. After the Cherokee were removed, the name of the town was changed to that of the Fort that had been established here.

During the Civil War this area was relatively untouched by Union Forces (as indeed most of Alabama escaped destruction). This was because it was perceived by the Union Generals that the area lacked few areas of strategic importance.

After the hostilities were ended, the great financier J.P. Morgan began organizing a railroad he called “The Southern Railway” out of the totally segmented railway system operating in the south. As part of his efforts, he had agents for his new line scouting the route of the track for potential “business opportunities” that would create traffic for his railroad.

Ft. Payne was found to be in an area containing both coal and iron ore resources. And so, in the 1890’s Ft. Payne experienced a real “boom.” The Southern Railway, seeking to maximize the extent of the boom for its benefit had this substantial Richardson Romanesque Depot built in 1891. I suppose the thinking was: “We could just put up a standard-issue wooden depot, such as can be found in many places even today. But we are trying to attract Northern financiers to the area, and we must go the extra mile and constructing this type of depot. If you make it substantial, and more like what the Northern financiers are used to seeing at home (Richardson Romanesque architecture was the prevailing style for public buildings constructed during that era), then the chances are better that they will bring their business to Ft. Payne Alabama.”

The Southern Railway was, in short, a privately-owned, privately financed, economic development council. This Depot was seen as one of their “economic development tools.” The idea behind constructing it was: “The First Impression is the best one.”

This same idea, no doubt was on the minds of the economic development folks in Indianapolis Indiana when they recently re-did their city’s international airport. In this case, they opened a new terminal building, the Col. H. Weir Cook terminal building, that houses not only gates for folks to use when catching their airplane flights, but also stores, eateries, and a giant civic plaza the includes a huge sculpture entitled: “The Cardinal” (The Cardinal is the state bird of Indiana. It is also the name of the only Amtrak train that services the Indianapolis area, “The Cardinal.”). I expect that the thinking was: “Make a good first impression, that is what a community needs to do in order to experience economic development (that and give the local economy away by giving large tax breaks to those precious new business developments).”

Two communities 100+ years apart with the same approach, for sure, but with a major difference. In Ft. Payne, in the 1890’s, economic development through maximizing the transportation infrastructure (I believe that is the current jargon) was done by a private corporation using capital they had raised on the financial markets. In Indianapolis, and most other communities across the United States today, it is done by the taxpayers of Indianapolis, of Indiana, any I also suspect by the U.S.

Now, I am sure that many would argue that there were many abuses and mistakes made with the economic development experienced in the 1890’s under the guidance of private investors. In this particular instance, the coal and iron ore deposits proved to be very thin, and by the early 1900’s most of the mines and mills associated with the minerals were out of business. But I sometimes wonder, particularly as the US Congress works up the an even newer economic stimulus plan, not to be confused with the last one, if there are not just as many faults, perhaps even more, with the new public-funded economic development that is in vogue now. Only no one will know about it for at least 10 to 20 years.

Savannah Georgia

Central of Georgia Depot

Probably one of the reasons for the continuing interest in Civil War History by so many Americans was the presence of so many Generals who were noted for their eccentricities as well as their battlefield leadership. The cast of characters who assembled to fight this long bitter struggle was definitely not the product of some carefully constructed system of Officer Progression. Nor were they assembled via the “Hollywood Casting Office” model that has been used by our nation’s Department of Defense in recent years.

Among the most colorful of these Civil War character/Generals, no doubt, was William T. (“Billy”) Sherman. While he participated in most of the noteworthy fights that occurred in what became the “Western Theater” of the War, he is probably most famous, or infamous depending upon your political views regarding the Civil War (Ooops, did I mean “The War Between the States?”) for one military maneuver in the East that started on November 15 1864, and ended 36 days later. This military maneuver of his is now known as the famous “March Through Georgia.”

After entering Atlanta GA on September 2, 1864, and insuring that this important center of rail and industry would no longer be used in support of the Confederate cause, he rested for about 2 months, long enough for Lincoln to win his re-election, largely, so many historians claim, as a result of “Billy’s” success (General U.S. Grant was getting mired down south of Richmond at this time). And then, after making careful preparations, including sending General Thomas back to Nashville to watch that area carefully, on November 15 he and his “bummers” as many called his armies, cut off their line of Communications and Supply and began a March to the Sea.

Despite the initial skepticism that his move caused, Lincoln was not too fond of it for one, nevertheless, this was not the first time that “Billy” had been involved in this type of operation. As a careful study of the Vicksburg Campaign reveals, “Billy” was simply doing what General Grant had done in the capture of that Confederate stronghold. In order to capture Vicksburg MS, Grant had cut his lines of Communication and Supply, struck south along the west bank of the Mississippi River, crossed the river below Vicksburg, penetrated to the east, and sent “Billy and his boys” to destroy Jackson MS (at that time the phrase the soldiers used was “to make a chimneyville”). Only then, did Grant turn his troops back west towards the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg. Only after encircling the town/stronghold did Grant re-establish his lines of Communication and Supply. During the interim period Grant and his troops had lived off of what they carried, and come on let's be real, what they "found" in the area.

And so it was that on the 21st of December 1864, Sherman peacefully entered a Savannah GA that he had threatened to reduce via siege guns and starvation if he met resistance. However, instead of resisting, the Confederate forces left the city via a pontoon bridge and escaped north, Sherman entered the city and then, instead of laying waste to it, as he had the rest of the Georgia countryside, he spared the city, and gave it to President Lincoln, according to his message sent on the 22nd of December 1864 “as a Christmas present.”

And here is where the above station enters in. Pictured above is the “Headhouse” of the Central of Georgia Railway Savannah Depot which was constructed in 1876. Behind this headhouse, and attached to it even today is a brick train shed (see picture on left). This train shed had been constructed in the 1850’s (various sources have given various dates). Thus, this brick train shed was part of the Savannah that Sherman gave to President Lincoln as a “Christmas present.”

The Central of Georgia Railway survived the Civil War and for many years was considered a prosperous and well-run line. However, like many of its brothers in the south, it soon fell under “foreign” (i.e. a series of Northern financiers), control. Because of this, it became a financially troubled line for many years. Subsequently, it was controlled by a series of different interests/railroads, culminating in the Interstate Commerce Commission ordering the sale of the line by the St. Louis and San Francisco (better known as the Frisco) Railroad (which is now part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad) to the Southern Railway in 1963.

Technically, the Central of Georgia Railroad, as it was re-named by the Southern Railway in 1971, still exists as a subsidiary line of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. However, there is very little equipment still carrying Central of Georgia Railroad markings.

The Savannah Central of Georgia Passenger Station was last used in 1972. Sometime after that it was purchased by the Coastal Heritage Society and turned into a museum dedicated to telling the story of Coastal Georgia in general, and Savannah in particular. Unfortunately, as of the date of this posting, I understand that the Museum has been closed for a year so that they can make needed repairs. Hopefully, when it re-opens, it will be not only as good as it was when A. and I toured it a while back, but even better.

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.

Amherst Virginia

The Southern Railway Depot

When you visit some train stations you just know you will never see them again. Mainly because you know they will not be in that location much longer. You know they will either be torn down, burned down, or moved.

Only occasionally when they get to be this bad do they get to be "restored" and turned into something like a restaurant or Visitor's Center. Thus, you realize this is a once in a lifetime stop, and you are not sad about that situation. For this is a station you really do not want to come back to.

Thus it is for this station we found one day in Amherst Virginia just to the north of Lynchburg Virginia. It was an old Southern Railway Depot that was obviously on its last legs. It still sat on Depot Street beside the active Washington DC to Atlanta Mainline of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. At one time it was no doubt busy with passengers boarding and de-boarding from various passenger trains, maybe even the fabled Crescent. But now Amtrak's Cresent passes by about mid-night with nary a nod to this old station. Surely, sadly, I suspect its days are numbered and soon will be no more. And thus, I will not see it any more.