Cincinnati’s old train station lives on as museum but needs repairs

The roof leaks, and the heating and cooling systems need to be replaced.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The city’s Union Terminal, a 75-year-old landmark that was one of the last grand train stations built in the U.S., has enjoyed a rebirth as a museum center but needs $120 million in renovations, officials said.

The building’s bold Art Deco style and enormous half-dome — the largest in the world before it was supplanted in 1973 by the one at the Sydney Opera House in Australia — became an instant signature for Cincinnati when the terminal opened in 1933.

To ensure that the landmark lasts for future generations, officials have set a goal of raising $100 million from private and public sources, along with $20 million in state funding.

The most immediate need is replacing a leaky roof, said Rodger Pille, a spokesman for the Cincinnati Museum Center, the organization at Union Terminal that oversees its children’s museum, a natural history museum and a local history museum.

The heating and cooling systems also need to be replaced.

“It’s nonsexy stuff but it has to be done, or simply maintaining the building will sap the resources we need for exhibits,” said Elizabeth Pierce, a vice president at the museum center.

Despite its prominent place in the city’s history, Union Terminal has always lived on the edge.

Built for $41 million just west of downtown, Union Terminal brought seven railroads under one roof, handling 17,000 passengers and 216 trains a day in the 1930s.

Travel peaked during World War II, when the building served as a war-related troop transport, but the popularity of passenger rail service quickly declined.

Passenger service halted in 1972, and the concourse was razed the following year.

The city of Cincinnati bought the terminal from the railroad companies in 1975, paying $1 for the building and $1 million for the surrounding 15 acres. A science center moved in and out, as did a shopping center.

The terminal, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977, finally emerged in the 1980s as a museum center. Passenger trains even returned in 1991 with Amtrak making three stops a week en route to Chicago and New York.

Union Terminal still resonates with people because of its elegant design, said Patrick Snadon, a professor of interior design at the University of Cincinnati.

“Art Deco is the ultimate combination of modernism and classicism,” he said.