01/31/2021
Built in 1897, Shreveport Union Station saw hundreds of thousands of travellers before it was closed in 1969. Home to the Kansas City Southern/Louisiana & Arkansas Railroads, and host to the Illinois Central, Cotton Belt, and for a brief time the Texas and Pacific, the station was a behive of activity in lower downtown Shreveport, Louisiana.
Shreveport Union Station was originally built in a gothic style with red brick facades and a finialed tower. During the 1940's, though, the station was remodeled into a modern stucco design, still retaining the tower (minus the pointed turret) and adding express and freight facilities. The station had five covered platforms serving eight stub-end tracks; the farthest North and farthest South tracks were reserved for freight and express operations. A small car storage yard was located across the KCS mainline to the North.
Visited by passenger trains such as the Southern Belle, the Flying Crow, the Hustler, and the Southwestern Limited, Union Station was usually busy with passengers travelling to and from all points of the compass - Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta. It was the starting point of world travels as well as sales trips, summers at the beach and weekends at Grandma's. It was a gathering place; a point of reference. Union Station was part of the life of the community.
For most of Shreveport Union Station's existence, it primarily served its owner, the Kansas City Southern Railway and its subsidiary the Louisiana & Arkansas Railway. With as many as 10 trains a day, at one point, the KCS provided most of the activity in the terminal. The famed Southern Belle, along with the Flying Crow, the Shreveporter, the Hustler, and unnamed trains 10-11 all pulled in under the canopies on a daily basis.
The last scheduled passenger train to stop at Shreveport Union Station was the southbound Southern Belle (Train #1) late in the evening of November 2, 1969. When she departed on her way to New Orleans, an era passed with her. Many were the times that families met or bid farewell to loved ones, or folks passed through on business or began vacations. Some went for a bite at the grill, or just to watch the trains. But after November 2, there was no reason to go down to the station - for the trains no longer came. Ironically, the KCS waited too long to close the station after the last train, for it burned to the ground within a week. Today, there is little left on the site of the station, save for part of its foundation and a few green and white floor tiles. Oh, the platforms are still there, reaching out to the West under the Common Street overpass. And the front drive is still there, but otherwise, there is just a weed-grown lot. The station tracks are gone, too, but the KCS mainline passes by just to the North. Every bit of freight the KCS carries passes over these tracks; North-South and East-West. There's lots of traffic, but small notice of the remnants of the old buildings - and little to remind one of the hustle and bustle which was once Union Station.
Vintage post card photo of Union Station before wartime remodel. Courtesy of LSU Shreveport Noel Memorial Library Archives and Special Collections.
