by Rob Bohannan
(This history was presented at ARPA's dedication of the clock and plaque donated by ARPA members, January 11, 1992)
Phoenix Union Station was commissioned on September 16, 1922, by the Arizona Eastern Railroad Company, a Southern Pacific affiliate, and by the California, Arizona and Santa Fe Railroad, then part of the Santa Fe system and was built by the Robert E. McKee Construction Company. The building was opened to the public on October 1, 1923. Construction of this union station was the result of an order by the Arizona Corporation Commission to the railroads to consolidate their separate station facilities located several blocks apart in downtown Phoenix.
The main station building is 475 feet long and 74 feet wide. The adjoining Post Office building is 78 feet long and 62 feet wide. The mission revival style building is constructed of structural steel and reinforced concrete and was completed at a cost of $556,000.
Three years after the station was completed, the new Southern Pacific main line through Phoenix was opened with the arrival of the eastbound Californian on November 15, 1926. After the track was fully seasoned, the Golden State and Sunset Limited served the station beginning March 20 of the following year. Prior to this, the only access to SP's transcontinental trains was via connecting trains on the old Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad at Maricopa.
When rail travel was at its peak during and immediately after World War Two, Phoenix Union Station was served by as many as eighteen trains a day. A pair of Santa Fe trains arrived and departed for Parker, Barstow, and Los Angeles. And Santa Fe's fondly remembered Hassayampa Flyerconnected Phoenix with Williams Junction and Santa Fe's great transcontinental trains to and from the east.
Southern Pacific operated the Sunset
Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans, the service which continues
under Amtrak today. The Sunset Limited had through cars to Dallas and
St. Louis by way of the Texas and Pacific connection at El Paso. In conjunction
with the Rock Island, Southern Pacific operated the Golden State
Limited, together with several lesser trains on the Los Angeles - Phoenix -
Chicago route. From December 1940 to April 1941, and from December 1941 to
April 1942, Rock Island and Southern Pacific operated the deluxe Arizona
Limited between Phoenix and Chicago. In April of 1964, the Sunset
Limited and the Golden State were combined between Los Angeles and
El Paso. The Golden State made its last run in February, 1968. The
Hassayampa was discontinued in April of the following year.
Until superseded by Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport sometime in the fifties, Phoenix Union Station was the undisputed gateway to the city. This station has served millions of arriving and departing passengers on a daily basis during the fifty-nine years since it was completed. This station has also played host to many special occasions and celebrations. The two having the largest recorded attendance are the Main Line celebration on Friday, October 15, 1926, and the second day of Phoenix Union Station Days, Sunday, February 24, 1991. On both days over ten thousand persons gathered to celebrate the importance of this great building and the invaluable service it has provided.
