"..... Cincinnati's magnificent art deco style railroad terminal building", now the home of Cincinnati Museum Center, was dedicated on March 31, 1933. Union Terminal was first proposed in the early part of the 20th century as a solution to the chaotic existing railroad system, which consisted of seven lines operating out of the five stations. The initial planning began in the early 1900's, but floods, inter-railroad squabbling and World War One delayed the plan until the late 1920's. Pictured below is the wide angle photograph of The Union Terminal as it exists today and as has been recently photographed by this Writer.....
In November 1990, Cincinnati Union Terminal reopened as the Cincinnati Museum Center, an educational and cultural complex featuring the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Cincinnati Historical Society Museum and Library, and the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater. On July 29, 1991, passenger train service was officially restored to the terminal Amtrak, which had been using a small station on River Road as a stop on its' Washington D.C. - Chicago route, moved to service the renovated Union Terminal.
"The Cincinnati Union Terminal located near downtown & located @ 1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45203-1130...The hours are Mon.-Sat. 10am-5pm & Sun.11am-6pm. Ph: 513-287-7043"
"Inside the Rotunda and looking back at the entry as passed through"
"The entry to the trains and the Amtrak Railway Company service"
"The Rotunda with murals to left & South side as you may enter"
"The Rotunda with murals to the right & North side as you may enter"
"......The mural to the right (north) depicts the growth of Cincinnati". The background illustrates the development of Ohio River transportation from flat boat to airplane. The middle ground shows the infant Cincinnati, the spread of population to surrounding countryside, and, finally, the modern city. The foreground illustrates the people who lived here, including the soldiers at Ft. Washington, settlers and industrial workers. Winold Reiss drew the "portraits from life", frequently using Cincinnatians as his subjects...
MOSAICS --- as you enter the "Union Terminals' Rotunda" you will be amazed at the beauty of the "Historic Rotunda".... German-born artist Winold Reiss was commissioned by Fellheimer and Wagner to design murals for Cincinnati Union Terminal in 1932. He was to design and create huge color mosaic murals for the Rotunda and the train concourse and to assist in creating the Art Deco style for the entire building... The mosaics are "a combination of two artistic techniques." The human images are rendered in glass mosaic tiles, while the background areas are treated as large masses of freshcoed concrete - concrete that has the color added while it is still wet".... "THE VISION OF CINCINNATI: The Worker Murals of Winold Reiss" by Daniel Hurley, Oueen City Heritage vol. 51, no. 2/3, summer/fall 1993, p. 82."
More Union Terminal photos can be found in the Gallery Photos!
