Portland, Maine Union Station Circa 1900 Poster

Union Station (seen here before the 1905 addition to this end of the station) on St John Street was commissioned by the Maine Central Railroad, and shared jointly with the Boston and Maine, and Portland and Ogsdenburg Railroads. It was designed by Bradlee, Winslow and Wetherill of Boston, and opened on June 25, 1888. Granite came from the Redstone quarry, near Conway, NH; pink granite was used for the walls, and white for the trim. The waiting room floor was a checkerboard of white marble and gray slate, all bordered in red slate. Baronial fireplaces at either end were carved from red sandstone and had inserts of Tennessee and Vermont marble. Above, painted motifs adorned the ceiling. The clock in the 138-foot tower was reputed to be the most accurate outdoor timepiece in New England. It was equipped with a “double three-legged gravity escapement” device, invented by E.B. Denison for Big Ben at Westminster, and it was built to withstand harsh elements. The station was expanded in 1905, and a three-bay addition was designed by George Burnham, built in 1911. Union Station closed its doors in 1960 and was razed the following year over a period of six weeks, with the clock tower being one of the last pieces to go, on August 31, 1961. Its place was taken by a generic strip shopping center called “Union Station Plaza”. The destruction spurred a preservation movement in Portland, and the founding of Greater Portland Landmarks. One fifth of the train shed was moved to Thompson's Point, where it awaits its fate, and the clock mechanism and face are at Congress Square.