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| DESCRIPTION: Kansas City's Union Station is the second-largest working train station in the country. This fully-restored, 1914 landmark is home to an interactive family science center and a railroad museum, as well as shops and restaurants. The Station also plays host to international traveling museum exhibits, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. A site on the National Register of Historical Places, the Station also houses a live theater stage, a 3-D movie theater, the region's largest planetarium and the city's main post office. |
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| ADDRESS: 30 W. Pershing Rd., Kansas City, Mo. |
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| LOCATION: Just south of downtown Kansas City at Pershing Road and Main Street. |
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| PHONE: 816-460-2020 |
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| WEB SITE: www.unionstation.org |
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HIGHLIGHTS:
- The KC Rail Experience, a permanent exhibit, provides a hands-on journey through the history of the American railroad. View railroad artifacts, explore vintage railcars and engineer a locomotive simulator.
- Science City serves as the city's first science center, featuring more than 50 hands-on learning activities. Visitors can solve a crime, dig up fossils and defy gravity on a bike that is 30 feet in the air. The Dino Lab, the largest of its kind in the nation, allows visitors to watch real paleontologists clean and prepare dinosaur fossils.
- The region's only large format 3-D movie screen, The City Extreme Screen, is more than five stories tall and more than 75 feet wide.
- The H&R Block City Stage showcases live theater and nighttime entertainment suitable for all ages.
- The Gottlieb Planetarium presents laser light shows and educational features about the planets and constellations.
- Union Station is home to one of Kansas City's most unique water features, the Bloch Fountain. Its dancing jets showcase a synchronized water display every hour on the hour.
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| HOURS: The Union Station building and the Link to Crown Center: 6 a.m. - midnight daily.
Union Station attractions: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat. and noon - 5:30 p.m. Sun. All Union Station attractions and theaters are closed on Monday. Visit the Web site for special seasonal hours.
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| ADMISSION: There is no cost for admission to the Union Station building. Attraction tickets are available starting at $6.50. A "Round Trip" ticket, including admission to Science City, the Gottlieb Planetarium, the KC Rail Experience and one Extreme Screen show, is $14.50. Theater performances, movies and some special exhibits require additional admission. |
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| ANNUAL ATTENDANCE: Between its attractions, theaters, restaurants and train station, approximately 2 million people visit Union Station every year. |
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HISTORY: Design for Union Station began in 1906. By the time the Station opened to the public in 1914, the construction cost had topped $6 million. Its first arrival, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Flyer, pulled into the pulled into the Station just after midnight on Nov. 1. Railway use peaked during World War I, with Union Station witnessing the arrivals and departures of more than 79,000 trains. Passenger traffic began to decline during the 50s and 60s as the airline industry gained momentum. In 1985, Amtrak discontinued its Union Station service.
Passed by voters in 1996, a bi-state cultural sales tax-the first of its kind in the country-funded nearly half of the Station's $250 million renovation. The remaining money was raised through private donations and federal funding. The fully-restored Station reopened to the public in 1999 with new shops, restaurants, theaters and a science center. Amtrak returned to Union Station in December 2002, offering several daily departures.
A non-profit organization, Union Station is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
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| WHERE TO GET LUNCH: Union Station houses three full-service restaurants-ranging from casual fare at Union Café, steaks and seafood at Pierpont's and malts and hamburgers at the new Harvey House Diner. In addition, Java Time, the Fast Track Deli and Times Square Concessionaire feature snacks and beverages. Several restaurants in the nearby Freight House are accessible via the Station's new pedestrian walkway. |
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| WHAT'S NEARBY: Use the Link walkway to access Crown Center, home to shops, restaurants and entertainment options or visit the Crossroads Arts District via Union Station's pedestrian walkway. The Liberty Memorial, the national World War I museum, is also nearby. |
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| HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES: With more than 50 interactive learning stations, education and play go hand-in-hand at Union Station's Science City. Families can train for space missions, use food chemistry to design a custom beverage, pilot a robot, investigate forensic evidence, use physics to enhance their golf game or reconstruct a dinosaur bone by bone. |
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| DID YOU KNOW: Nicknamed "Big Ben of the Plains," the Union Station's huge 1914 clock is 6.5 feet tall, 3 feet thick and weighs more than 1,100 pounds. Its numerals are each a foot tall. "Meet me under the clock" developed as a popular phrase among visitors looking to reunite with train passengers. Although parts of the clock were replaced during the 1999 renovation to operate more efficiently, the spot below it remains a popular site for marriage proposals and weddings. |
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| DON'T FORGET: Look for the legendary "bullet holes" supposedly left from Kansas City's famous Union Station Massacre. In 1933, Kansas City made the front page of virtually every newspaper in the nation. On June 17, 1933, convicted mobster Frank Nash (under escort by a team of FBI agents and police officers) was shot and killed outside the Station during a shootout. Four law enforcement officers were also killed. There are marks on the front of the building that for years were rumored to be bullet holes from the shooting, but recent tests by Kansas City police recently conclude the marks could not have come from bullets. However, the mystery surrounding the legendary holes lives on. |
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| GROUP TOURS: Groups of 15 or more receive discounted package rates with advanced purchase. Call for more information. Any convention visitor in Kansas City can show their convention badge to receive the group rate. |
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| PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Take the MAX to the Union Station/Science City stop. |
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DRIVING THERE: From the north: Take I-29 to Hwy 169. It will turn into the Broadway Extension. Stay on Broadway across the river and through Downtown to Pershing Road. Turn left on Pershing (east). At the first stoplight, turn left (north). After you turn, you will see a sign overhead that reads "Union Station West Yards Parking." Enter the large parking lot on the right. Union Station is the large building to the east.
From the west: Take I-70 East to I-670. Merge onto I-35 South, and then exit at 20th Street. At 20th, turn left (east). Turn right (south) on Broadway Boulevard. Turn left on Pershing Road (east). At the first stoplight, turn left (north). After you turn, you will see a sign overhead that reads "Union Station West Yards Parking." Enter the large parking lot on the right. Union Station is the large building to the east.
From the south: Take I-35 N and exit at 1C, Southwest Boulevard/Pennway. Turn right (east) on Pennway. Turn right (south) on Broadway Boulevard. Turn left on Pershing (east). At the first stoplight, turn left (north). After you turn, you will see a sign overhead that reads "Union Station West Yards Parking." Enter the large parking lot on the right. Union Station is the large building to the east.
From the east: Take I-70 W to I-670 W, then to the Downtown loop. Exit to I-35 S. Exit at 20th Street. At 20th, turn left (east). Turn right (south) onto Broadway Boulevard. Turn left onto Pershing (east). At the first stoplight, turn left (north). After you turn, you will see a sign overhead that reads "Union Station West Yards Parking." Enter the large parking lot on the right. Union Station is the large building to the east. |
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| PARKING: Short-term parking is available in front of Union Station; the first hour is free. Day and long-term parking is available behind the Station in the West Yards, where the first three hours are free. Amtrak patrons can park in the West Yards for $10 per day. |
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| PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Sarah Biles, director of communications, at 816-460-2252 or sbiles@unionstation.org. |
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