INTERIOR

Union Station in its golden age as rendered by artist Rober Pailthorpe.

The main waiting room was flanked by colonnades which connected a restaurant on the west end and a baggage room on the east end. The restaurant was unsuccessful in a separate building and was moved to the west end of the main waiting room. Unconnected to the central structure was a railroad office building on the west end and an express building on the east end.

The east end of the main waiting room around the 1940's. The ticket office and tracks are on the left. The information desk is center right.

The main waiting room in 1980 looking east. Tracks and ticket windows are on the left. The street is to the right. A novel feature for the time the station was built was the ramps that led to the tracks. To the right of the ramp was the location of the restaurant.

Photo by Edward J. Ozog

The waiting room in 1980 looking west. The ticket windows and tracks are on the right. Photo by Edward J. Ozog

TWO INTERIOR VIEWS FROM 1982

The entrance from the street is on the left. Across from the entrance is a wide corridor with display cases that leads to the nearest track. Other tracks were reached from the down ramp and tunnel through the doors at the far end of the photos. Also at the far end was the location of the restaurant serving at a counter. Originally the restaurant was in the separate building adjoining the main building. The rest rooms were opposite the restaurant on the right. The ticket windows are on the right and the information booth is in the station center. The bottom photo was taken at about the same time as the top photo but telephone booths are in front of the information booth. On the right of the bottom photo is the way to a side entrance to the station. The doors at the far end also accessed the street.

THE PLAZA

Passengers leaving the west colonnade, most likely from a local train in the early years of the twentieth century. Providing regular passengers with a way to and from trains without passing through a crowded waiting room was considered good practice. The gentle slope leads to City Hall and the main business and shopping area of Providence.

The main station entrance over Francis Street April 13, 1937.

Main Entrance During The Era Of The Trolley

Exchange Place April 13, 1937. Francis Street runs under the station.

Car 2061 is on Dorrance Street at City Hall and Exchange Place in the late 1940s.

One of the earliest published color film portraits of Union Station appeared in the

September 1931 issue of National Geographic.