Post Card Tuesday: Nashville's Union Station

This Post card of one of Nashville's most popular landmarks dates back to 1902.

The depot was built in 1900, just a couple of years before the post card was made, in a castle-like late-Victorian Romanesque Revial style. The clock on the tower was one of the earliest digital clocks, but is now a traditional clock. Atop the tower used to be a 3D statue of the Roman god Mercury, but was kncoked off in a windstorm in the 50s. In the mid-90s, a flat Mercury was put in its place. That one was knocked off in the 98 tornado, but was replaced again.

The station became vacant in 1979 after train service was discontinued. It opened as a luxury hotel in March of 1990, and is now a Wyndham hotel.

An architecturally significant train shed used to be located right next to the station, but it's deteriorating condition, plus lack of any conceivable use led to it being demolished a few years ago, which caused Union Station to lose its status as a National Historic Landmark.

Most views of Union station (like the one above) tend to look from the front across the street (broadway). This is a fuller view of the building from the side, taken from the Broadway viaduct.