Omaha, Nebraska
Union Station near downtown Omaha. In 1931, this world-class Art Deco station, with its Great Hall, opened across from the Burlington train station. Today, the station’s caretaker, Durham Museum, has nearly completed its restoration of the architectural marvel. When this grand station opened on January 15, 1931, people were awed. The main Waiting Room—now the Suzanne and Walter Scott Great Hall—measures 160 feet by 72 feet, with 60-foot ceilings of sculptured plaster trimmed in gold and silver leaf. There are 10 cathedral-like plate glass windows and six immense chandeliers. The floor is patterned terrazzo, the wainscoting is black Belgian marble, and the columnettes are blue Belgian marble.
The last train left this station at 2 a.m. on May 2, 1971, and two years later, Union Pacific gifted the magnificent building to the city of Omaha, which opened the Western Heritage Museum in 1975. Twenty years later, a $22 million restoration project restored the inside, and in 1997 the museum was renamed in honor of Charles and Margre Durham, who had been instrumental in the redo.
Its permanent collections include a display on all 10-passenger depots that Union Pacific once had in Omaha, as well as model trains. Also family histories, from the days of the Omaha Tribe to settlers.
