Union Station: Reflections After 100 Years

Build the people a monument! That was the charge from Union Pacific president E.H. Harriman to Union Station architect Jarvis Hunt. And build a monument he did. This book is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the beloved rail terminal in Kansas City. Within these pages is a compilation of the storied and sometimes difficult times of the station. But through it all, the 850,000-square-foot Beaux Arts masterpiece survived because the citizenry would not allow it to die. Photographer Roy Inman creates a masterful photographic essay, beginning with the earliest years of the station s history. In splendid detail, he shows some of the interim efforts to keep it afloat after passenger rail traffic dwindled to a trickle, and invites us to share what he experienced before, during and after the restoration. Writer Kevin Murphy provides the necessary context, taking the reader on a word journey beginning before the construction started, through the glory years, the sad decline, the eventual restoration, and finally a peek at what the future may hold.