Union Station Interiors — 1916
by Paula Bosse
A beautiful place to wait…
by Paula Bosse
Above, a photo of the new “Union Depot,” completed in 1916 and, thankfully, still standing more than a century later. Below, a couple of details of the Lunch Room and the Women’s Waiting Room.
The same view as the top photo, but from 1922:
Back to 1916, in what I gather is a sort of interior/exterior shot showing another place to pass the time. What better, quaint way to wait for a train and take in a great, slightly elevated view, than in a rocking chair.
And a slight zoom-in:
Imagine those rocking chairs up there in those archways, between the columns.
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Sources & Notes
The two photos from 1916 (by Frank Rogers) are from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company Architectural records and photographs, 1914-1941, Architectural Terra Cotta, Alexander Architectural Archives, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin — more info on these photos is here and here.
A couple of other images of the new Union Station can be seen in these Flashback Dallas posts:
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Copyright © 2022 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
The picture in the “color” postcard above is not Dallas Union Terminal. IOf you compare this picture with pictures from 1922, they design of the two buildings is quite different. The postcard shows the building having arched opening in the second floor, while in the actual building the second floor has square openings. Also, the postcard shows the building having a raised entrance with steps up into the building. The actual building never had steps in the entrance – the doors opened directly onto the entry plazas. Y’all might want to check the authenticity of the color postcard in this article to be sure that it is indeed the Dallas Union Terminal building. Just some observations from an “armchair” railroad fan. I have always loved the Dallas building – it is so imposing and has certainly stood the test of time. I am thankful that the city chose to renovate and update the building rather than to tear it down. It would have been a travesty to have lost all the history that this building has. I rode a train with my Grandparents out of the DUT from Dallas to Mineola on the original Texas Eagle in 1964. Unfortunately, by that time, the Texas Eagle was only a “shadow” of its former self.
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Thanks, Edward. Yes, it’s Union Station — probably an early architectural rendering made into a postcard that preceded final construction. I’ve seen several postcards that “jump the gun” like this, especially on depictions of major buildings the city was eager to promote.
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It is not a terminal since the trains pass through which is why it is a station. terminals are the terminus of the RR lines
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Thanks for your comments. According to the history of the building, Dallas Union Terminal Company was chartered by the State of Texas in 191w, with the building opening in 1916. It was known as the Dallas Union Terminal Company until 1974 when the Dallas Union Terminal Company ceased doing business.The head house and other facilities were eventually sold to the City of Dallas and the building was renovated and rebuilt in 1996, and again in 2010. Since 1996 the building was been known as Dallas Union Station. In 2019 the building was named in honor of Congresswoman Eddie Berniece Johnson and became known as the “Eddie Berniece Johnson Union Station.” This information is according to both the Texas State Historical Association “Handbook of Texas” and information found on Wikipedia. As an aside, I have heard this building referred to as Union Terminal as long as I can remember. In addition, one of the original steam powered switch engines owned by the Dallas Union Terminal company is on display at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, TX. It is #7, an 0-6-0 switch engine built by the Baldwin Locomotive Company in 1923 and retired in 1962 and donated to the museum in 1963.
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Some passenger trains terminated there; others did not. Terminal is appropriate.
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while a passenger train may terminate there the rail lines still run through. “”Terminal” often implies the end of a line (a stub-end)”
“Station: A general term for any place where trains stop for passengers”
“A station is a general stop on a route where trains/buses pick up/drop off passengers, while a terminal (or terminus) is a specific type of station that marks the end of the line, requiring trains to reverse or end their journey there, “
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About as many trains passed through DUT to other destinations as terminated there. I have DUT time cards for all the railroads from 1932 to 1958 with which to quantify that.
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I have a couple of interior shots of the T&P depot on Pacific Ave. Also there are interior shots in existence of the interior of the H&TC depot as well as the Fred Harvey lunch room in the Santa Fe depot. All of these are pre-1916 DUT.
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So that is the Jefferson Hotel under construction visible in the interior/exterior photo.
It opened in 1917:
https://www.dallasnews.com/photos/2013/04/03/today-in-dallas-photo-history-1975-demolition-continues-on-historic-hotel/
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[…] I love these two dreamy images of the interior of the brand-new Union Staton, taken by Frank Rogers, featured in the post “Union Station Interiors — 1916.” […]
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There is one interior view I wish I had a better photo, but alas only a grainy newspaper image. The Texas Ranger Statue that graced the lobby of Love Field for decades until recently was originally installed in the terminal. It was removed from there at the sculptor’s request because it was not in a prominent location. The terminal also housed the Dallas Public Library in the early 1950s while the original Carnegie Library was demolished and the modern version built at Commerce and Harwood.
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Hello Paula, the interior/exterior view is of the loggia, the open-air-but-enclosed second floor space off the main waiting room, which is still there today. The big windows at the far end of the room look into the “matrons’ waiting room”, which was adjacent to the women’s waiting room.
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