Union Station (Savannah)

Savannah Union Station, rendering by architect Frank P. Milburn

The Union Station was a train station in Savannah, Georgia. It was located at 419 through 435 West Broad Street, between Stewart and Roberts streets, on the site that is now listed as 435 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Architecture

It was designed by Columbia, South Carolina architect Frank Pierce Milburn and completed in 1902 at a cost of $150,000. It was an example of Spanish Renaissance and Elizabethian styles. The main feature of the structure was an octagonal rotunda which measured 80 feet in diameter and served as the general waiting room. Since most of the station's history took place under the South's Jim Crow segregation system, a colored waiting room was assigned to African-Americans.

The exterior walls were made of pressed brick with granite and terra cotta trimmings. The building also had two towers.

Significance and history

Many visitors disembarked trains onto West Broad Street. They brought enough business for theaters, bars, stores to open in that section of town. For decades, the Union Station and its surroundings became known as the economic and cultural center for Black Savannah.

In 1963 though, the Union Station was demolished to make room for Interstate 16 and what would eventually be known as the Earl T. Shinhoster Interchange. The neighborhood entered a period of economic and social decline and has never recovered since then.

Current use of the site

An Emmark service station (405 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) is located nearby what was once the site of the Union Station.

The Savannah Visitor Information Center is in another former train station, located nearby, at 301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

See also

• Savannah (Amtrak station), the current train station for Savannah

References

Preceding station		Atlantic Coast Line Railroad		Following station
Georgetown toward Tampa Union Station		Main Line		Hardeeville toward Richmond Broad Street Station