The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a passenger railroad station in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. After the decline of railroad travel, most of the building was converted to other uses, and now houses museums, theaters, and a library.
Background
Cincinnati was a major center of railroad traffic in the late 19th and early 20th Century, especially as an interchange point between railroads serving the Northeastern and Midwestern states with railroads serving the South. However, intercity passenger traffic was split between no fewer than five stations in Downtown Cincinnati, requiring the many travelers who changed between railroads to navigate local transit themselves. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which operated through sleepers with other railroads, was forced to split its operations between two stations. Proposals to construct a union station began as early as the 1890s, and a committee of railroad executives formed in 1912 to begin formal studies on the subject, but a final agreement between all seven railroads that served Cincinnati and the city itself would not come until 1928, after intense lobbying and negotiations, led by Philip Carey Company president George Crabbs. The seven railroads: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; the Norfolk and Western Railway; the Pennsylvania Railroad; and the Southern Railway selected a site for their new station in the West End, near the Mill Creek.
Museum Center
The terminal lay empty for the next decade or so. In May 1986 the voters of Hamilton County passed a bond levy to save the terminal from destruction and to transform it into the Cincinnati Museum Center. Former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer was one of the major proponents of saving the building and transforming it into a museum. It was opened in 1990 and now provides a home to six organizations:
- Cincinnati History Museum
- Museum of Natural History & Science
- Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater
- Cincinnati Historical Society Library
- Duke Energy Children's Museum
The renovations also allowed Amtrak to restore service to Union Terminal via the thrice-weekly Cardinal on July 29, 1991.
The Cincinnati Railroad Club occupies "Tower A" above the station, offers public access to the space, and serves as a museum for the former rail yard and station's innovative interlocking system of remote-controlled track switches.
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Admission:
Single Museum Pass: Adults, $8.00; Senior, $7.00; Children 3-12, $6.00
All Museums Pass: Adults, $12.00; Senior, $11.00; Children 3-12, $8.00.
OMNIMAX® tickets are $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and $5.50 for children.
Parking: $5.00.
Location
1301 Western Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45203
Area: Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
Contact Information
Phone: 513-287-7000
Toll-Free: 1-800-733-2077
Fax: 513-287-7002
E-Mail: information@cincymuseum.org