In 1911, the City Commission forced the railroads to elevate the East Douglas tracks, solving the problem of Santa Fe, Rock Island, and Frisco lines crossing and often blocking the street, and it also proposed a single unified station to serve all the lines. Union Station opened in 1914 at a cost of $2.5 million and served Wichita in grand style as a hub of activity where travelers and their loved ones gathered in the huge lobby for cheerful welcomes and emotional farewells, before closing in 1980. Wichita was named a city in 1870, but its growth was threatened when Santa Fe Railway chose not to build south of Newton in 1871. James Mead immediately wrote the company, and Santa Fe offered to extend its tracks to Wichita if the county provided $200,000 in bonds and established a local company to handle operations. In less than three months, the Wichita and Southwestern Railroad Co. formed with Mead as president while county residents voted for the bonds, and the local company soon became part of the Santa Fe system.
