Built in 1881, Union Station embodied Denver's ambition to become the major urban center of the Rocky Mountain West as steam-powered railroads transformed the town. Originally designed in the Italianate style with a tree-lined park along Wynkoop Street, it was remodeled in the Romanesque Revival style after an 1894 fire, and in 1914 its central building was replaced with a Beaux-Arts terminal. Colorado's settlement and growth were closely tied to railroads: beginning in 1870, passenger trains from both coasts brought thousands of new residents, many of them immigrants, while freight trains linked local mining and agriculture to national markets, and daily freight traffic still crosses the South Platte Valley. In 1905, prominent Denverites, influenced by the City Beautiful movement, erected the "Mizpah" or "Welcome Arch" in front of the station, and for more than 25 years its iron lace and electric lights made it a city icon through which numerous statesmen, celebrities, and four U.S. Presidents passed. Denver had nearly collapsed in 1867 when the Union Pacific chose Cheyenne for its transcontinental route, but local businessmen built their own rail connections to Cheyenne and the nation, helping bring more than 100 trains a week into the city by the 1880s even as Denver remained rough, dirty, and far from its self-styled grandeur. David Moffat, who arrived in Denver in 1860, became president of the First National Bank of Denver by 1865, amassed great wealth through banking and mining, and pursued his dream of a direct railroad through the Rocky Mountains; when rival rail lines blocked his access to the terminal, he organized an independent railroad with its own station. Railroad work also shaped lives beyond the depot itself, as black porters and waiters performed demanding service jobs that offered rare steady employment and livable wages, though real earnings depended on tips.

Photo: Conrad Ward

Photo: Conrad Ward

Denver, Colorado · USA