“See, everyone in Houston thinks that our old train station was over by Enron Field (this blog does not recognize Minute Maid’s sponsorship deal) and that it’s been preserved as part of the ballpark. But actually, we had TWO stations – the Southern Pacific had their own, seperate from the Astros station, a mission/art deco fusion with beautiful murals on the walls and great big arched windows. Pictures of the place . . . are few and far between, but the ones I’ve seen show something that rivals LA Union Terminal or [Philadelphia's 30th St. Station.] That station was torn down to make way for the Barbara Jordan [Post Office], except that ONLY THE WAITING ROOM WAS TORN DOWN. The whole mess of platforms and switchtracks that goes along with an art deco station building is still there, behind the post office, rusted and overgrown but still in existence as a huge chunk of UP-owned real estate.” [Keep Houston Houston]
-
Subscribe to Swamplot
1031 Exchanges
Home Design
Houston Blogs
Houston Media
Mortgages & Financing
Neighborhood Associations
Property Research
Real Estate News
Sustainable Development & Green Design
10 Comments
Postcard image of Houston Southern Pacific Station:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/.....06520_.htm
Ahhh…finally a photo. Thanks Scott! Sure looks like an interesting building and hopefully what remains will find a good use one day.
Why don’t you recognize Minute Maid? That’s kind of silly, don’t you think? Would you prefer Enron over Minute Maid? Time to start reading another blog now that this one just got political.
Too bad all that remains are figments of the commenter’s imagination. There’s one tiny worthless building and a single platform for Amtrack passengers. It’s not hidden either. Anyone can drive up, park their car and walk around. No one does because there’s nothing to see.
What is it about this city that it seems to so easily tear up its history? So many nice cities have nice, historic train stations and I am not just talking about DC, Chicago, NYC, etc. here. Denver, Dallas, Oklahoma City…hell even Phoenix has a historic downtown train station! Unfortunately, here in Houston, this city just bulldozes its history.
Houston and it’s people didn’t tear down this station. UPRR and the Federal Government did. Houston did a pretty good job of preserving it’s other train station at Minute Maid Park. They even restored the old ticket booths. The only thing missing currently is trains and the waiting benches in the station. The benches are gone because the large room it rented for parties.
@josh: If you have questions and comments for the author of the essay excerpted above, you might try posting them on that author’s site. Try following the link.
kjb-
Even if what you say is true, if this city cared one bit about historic renovation, they would have been up in arms against the feds. That kind of thing happens all the time but apparently it didn’t happen here when the wrecking ball came calling.
That all being said, I am hoping we have started to turn a page here though. Although I wholeheartedly support Metro’s expansion, I was glad to see locals raise the issue of the preservation of the art deco building along the eastside line. It is a start. Hopefully we will see continued pressure on Metro after their pathetic attempts to “preserve” this historic building.
Wow, matt (one of them, sorry to the other) seems to believe anything UP says. UP does not care about Houston or any other city, including their HQ city Omaha. There is plenty of blame for a lack of leadership in Houston, but citing UP as somehow the good guy is just wrong.
Josh, it was a joke. I like to pepper posts with a snarky remark here and there. Last I checked, snark wasn’t inherently political - at least it wasn’t, prior to the Palin VP nom.
(OOOOOOH POLITICAL)