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When you step foot inside Union Station, it is hard not to be awed by the building’s splendor. With its high, ornate ceilings and vast Grand Plaza, the building is a crown jewel of Kansas City.
You may know Union Station as a tourist destination, and maybe you have visited the building to do something fun — the Super Bowl parade, a trip to Science City, or a nice dinner at Pierpont’s.
Or maybe you had to visit Union Station to complete a more routine task, like going to the U.S. Post Service office, getting help at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, or having a work meeting at the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce or United Soccer Coaches.
If you have only stopped by the Union Station for a quick visit, or if you have never been at all, you may be surprised to learn that you could spend an entire day poking around the more tucked-away spaces.
Read on to learn how you can explore Union Station to immerse yourself in all things train-related, see photographs and artifacts from Kansas City history, participate in Kansas City lore, and walk from Crown Center to the Freight House District without touching a sidewalk.
Union Station's history
Union Station, opened to the public in October 1914, celebrates its 110th anniversary this year. Architectural planning for the beaux-art style building began back in 1906, and construction started four years later.
The building was designed to replace Kansas City’s Union Depot train station in the West Bottoms, originally constructed in 1878. The four-year construction process was intensive and included blasting through existing rock formations with dynamite to create a more suitable site for the building.
When Union Station finally opened its doors to the public, the city was captivated by the massive, 850,000-square-foot building. The Kansas City Post newspaper wrote in 1914 that Union Station’s opening marked a “new epoch in K.C.” The Kansas City Times wrote that a visitor to Kansas City “will not forget the great, big, beautiful Union Station … and that is why every Kansas Cityan should feel vastly proud of this terminal.”
With train travel in its heyday in the early to mid 1900s, Union Station claims that a record number of 678,363 travelers passed through the building in 1945 as they returned home from World War II.
As air travel grew in popularity in the 1970s, the number of trains passing through Union Station began to decline. Most of the building’s shops and restaurants closed in the 1980s, and by 1985 Amtrak ceased operations. In 1989 the building’s last remaining restaurant, the Lobster Pot, closed.
After falling into disrepair, voters in the Kansas City area passed a sales-tax increase to fund Union Station’s redevelopment, and to build a science museum in the building. In 1999, the building reopened to the public, and in 2002 Union Station once again became the site of the city’s Amtrak train station.
This history is written on the walls of Union Station—literally. The building is essentially a free museum, and Union Station Stories is a permanent exhibit that is nestled into different corners of the building.
If you take the Southeast Elevator to the second floor, you can walk through the building’s hallways to see a real train conductor uniform from the early 1900s, learn about the famed “Harvey Girls” that served food in Union Station’s Harvey House restaurant, and discover which famous visitors to Kansas City passed through Union Station (hint, one was Ernest Hemingway).
The exhibit continues on the third and fourth floors, and discusses the architectural history of the building and the 1990s renovation process. When you are on the building’s upper levels, you have the added opportunity of being able to snap a picture of the building from an aerial view from one of the windows.
Union Station’s main floor also contains exhibits featuring real artifacts on the histories of African American shoe shiners and the Railway Post Office. The Haverty Railroad gallery on the main floor displays railroad art, and the long hallway toward the Link between Crown Center and Union Station is filled with photographs and facts from the building’s long construction process (did you know it took 500 workers to complete the building?).
If you take your time to really immerse yourself in these exhibits, you could easily spend an entire morning discovering facts about Kansas City’s famed site — for free!
Union Station lore
Union Station has obviously seen a lot of history, but one infamous example is its role as the site of the “Kansas City Massacre” in 1933. The violence occurred when bank robber Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd and two associates conspired to liberate their incarcerated friend Frank Nash as he was being transported to Leavenworth Penitentiary following a prison break.
Floyd and his crew shot and killed an Oklahoma police chief, an FBI agent, and two Kansas City police officers when they were placing Nash into a vehicle after he exited a train. The shooters also ended up killing Nash as well.
Floyd and one of his associates fled the scene and lived as fugitives for over a year before Floyd was shot in a police altercation and his associate was executed.
You can view a memorial plaque dedicated to the law enforcement officers who died during the Kansas City Massacre on the right side of Union Station’s main entrance.
It has also long been rumored that small marks on the eastern side of Union Station’s front exterior are visible bullet holes from the Kansas City Massacre, and some visitors still try to catch a glimpse. Union Station put the rumors to rest, however, noting that “tests by Kansas City, Mo. police recently showed the marks could not have come from bullets.”
The Kansas City Massacre, as well as the building’s long history, have still raised speculation about whether or not Union Station might be haunted. Some people who have spent time in the building report spooky experiences. In 2012, Union Station was the subject of an episode of the show Ghost Adventures. Paranormal investigators toured the building and apparently recorded evidence of a ghost.
While the building is usually bustling during the day, perhaps if you visit for a nighttime event you can see if you notice anything spooky.
Explore downtown from up above
While Union Station is home to several solid restaurants that we’ll talk about below, walking to nearby Crown Center affords even more variety.
While the outdoor route entails crossing several busy intersections, fortunately, the Link provides a walkway between Union Station and Crown Center. Crossing above Main, Pershing and Grand, the Link allows you to escape the outdoors (and avoid reparking) and head directly through the Westin hotel lobby and into the Crown Center shopping area.
The walkway to the Link is inside near Union Station’s front eastern entrance. As mentioned above, the hallway connecting Union Station to the Link is filled with old photographs. The above-ground Link is accessible via stairs or elevator. If you want to explore, plan for normal business hours, as Link access may be closed on either side early in the morning or late at night.
For even more dining options, you can also take the Freight House Pedestrian Bridge over the train tracks and directly into the Freight House District, which is home to the Austrian restaurant Grünauer, Jack Stack Barbecue, and Italian restaurant Lidia’s. The doorway to the bridge is on the far north side of Union Station’s Grand Plaza. The door to the bridge is locked after normal business hours, so plan your trip accordingly.
Restaurants aside, the Freight House Bridge alone is worth visiting. The uniquely designed walkway incorporates the structure of Pencoyd Railroad Bridge, which formerly functioned as a train bridge near the River Market area. It’s also a good place to stand and watch the trains pass through, and you have to admit, it’s hard to suppress your giddy inner child when you are standing above a loud, honking train.
Tourist destination
Speaking of trains: If you haven’t gotten enough of a train fix walking through the Union Station Stories exhibit and the Haverty railroad gallery, you can head to the Model Train Gallery at the North end of the Grand Plaza (near the door to the Freight House bridge).
The gallery features working model trains circling intricately designed cityscapes equipped with working lights. The entire space is outfitted with kitschy mid-century train memorabilia, and over 80 total trains. It is a great place to bring kids, adult train enthusiasts, or fans of a niche museum.
Like the rest of Union Station, the Model Train Gallery goes all out for the holiday season and outfits the miniature model train towns in holiday gear. This entire Model Train Gallery effort is volunteer run, and to support the effort the Union Station recommends visitors pay a $5 donation for individuals and a $10 donation for families.
You can make a whole train-themed day of it by heading to Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant at Crown Center for lunch. Fritz’s is a family-friendly diner that serves all food on a tiny, automated train that drives directly to your table.
Speaking of restaurants, Union Station is also home to several of its own.
Pierpont’s offers a higher-end steak and seafood menu for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. They are also open for happy hour from 3–9 on Wednesday through Sunday, and you can try their menu items like lobster mac n’ cheese or the daily oyster special. They also have drink specials if you just want to sit and take a photo of their massive, picturesque bar.
Harvey’s is the breakfast and lunch restaurant that affords diners a prime spot to people-watch from the middle of Union Station. The lunch menu has a lot of diverse options ranging from sandwiches like the KC Classic with burnt ends to lighter specialties, such as the seared salmon bowl. They also have a grab-and-go market that’s open every day from 9–3 if you’d rather eat on the go. On Sundays, Harvey’s has a high-end, fixed-price brunch that includes everything from a meat carving station and made-to-order eggs Benedict. (Harvey's is where Union Station's ticket office used to be).
Across the hall from Harvey’s, Parisi Coffee also serves premade sandwiches, made-to-order breakfast items like a chorizo breakfast burrito, as well as a wide variety of pastries. You can also get specialty coffee drinks like seasonal lattes and cappuccinos.
Beyond the food that greets you at the front door, Union Station is a popular Kansas City tourist destination due to its many attractions. Science City is an interactive science museum for kids, but there are plenty of experiments and activities where adults can join in on the fun.
Union Station is home to the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium, which hosts family-friendly astronomy shows like Stargaze Kansas City, which takes you on a tour of the celestial objects in the Kansas City night sky. They also show astronomy-related documentaries and evening laser shows. You can currently see “Laser Taylor Swift” on select evenings at the Planetarium.
The Regnier Extreme Screen in Union Station claims to be the biggest screen in Kansas City, at 80 by 53 feet. The 400-seat movie theater shows classic films, new films, and documentaries. Current offerings include “The Wild Robot” and the documentary “Cities of the Future.”
Adults and children can see a live play at Union Station’s City Stage Theatre. The venue shows performances by the Kansas City Actors Theatre and Theatre for Young America. Kansas City Actor’s Theatre just wrapped up performing “Dial M for Murder,” and you will have to keep an eye out for their Union Station offerings next season. You can see performances of the children’s play “Goodnight Moon” at Union Station through Nov. 2.
Union Station also hosts high-profile traveling exhibitions. Right now you can learn more about Kansas City’s hometown hero Walt Disney at the “Disney100: The Exhibition.” Disney100 celebrates the first century of The Walt Disney Company through interactive galleries centered around some of Disney’s most iconic works. You can view artifacts from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Star Wars, and also see drawings from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse days. The exhibition runs through Nov. 30.
There is clearly a lot going on in Union Station, so keep an eye on their upcoming events to plan your visit.
If you love the holidays, head to Union Station for the Holiday Reflections display, which opens on Nov. 22. The entire building is covered in lights, and you can pay $8 to enter a holiday village with festive photo opportunities and children’s activities.
