CHAPTER 03 Houston's Union Station and Railroads, Minute Maid Park

By the early 20th century Houston was known as the city where seventeen railroads meet the sea. Author Dorothy Knox Howe Houghton says, "Looking at early railroad maps you see how the railroads fanned out of Houston in all directions."
Houston was a growing city and needed a modern railroad station. Union Station, opened in 1913, was designed by the same architectural firm that designed Grand Central Station in New York City. The large building located on the east side of downtown Houston handled passenger trains from different railroads such as the Santa Fe, Missouri Pacific, and Burlington-Northern.
Union Station was a busy place with passenger trains arriving and departing day and night. Among the famous trains that that served Union Station was the Texas Rocket. From 1938 to 1945 it ran twice daily from Houston to Dallas and Fort Worth.
In 2000 the Houston Sports Association converted the historic Union Station into the main entrance to a new baseball stadium now known as Minute Maid Park. The stadium is directly behind the Union Station building and is the home of the Houston Astros.
In the 19th century another large passenger depot in Houston, the Grand Central Station, served the Southern Pacific Railroad. Eventually, as more people abandoned the trains for air travel, the large depot was no longer needed. It was demolished to make way for the downtown post office, and a much smaller depot was built next door.
Houston had commuter rail service also. The Galveston Houston Electric Railway Company operated the popular Interurban between downtown Houston and Galveston.
All of this history is contained in the photo collections at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center in the Texas Room at the Houston Public Library. Video scenes are from the documentary, "In Search of Houston History," produced by the Friends of the Texas Room and aired on HoustonPBS.

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