The building today is home to several museums and is a night time stop on Amtrak’s tri-weekly Cardinal.
The restoration project was funded by a sales tax passed by Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, voters in 2014.
“Construction began in July 2016 after a little more than a year of probes and analysis by architects, engineers, and conservators” says Cody Hefner, a representative of the Cincinnati Museum Center, the terminal’s caretaker. “We have carried on and protected the legacy of the craftsmen who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the building during its original construction from 1929 to 1933.”
The restoration work was extensive, going all the way down to the building’s substructure, with the intent that the 85-year-old building will be able to last at least another 100 years. The classic murals in the rotunda were painstakingly restored to the way they appeared when the building opened to the public in 1933. Even the classic, neon-lined clock on the front of the building was given a complete overhaul.
“This is a monumental achievement for our staff and volunteers and for the entire community” Hefner says. “Everyone who works here, and really everyone in the community, has a story about Union Terminal, either as a train station or as a museum. So to be able to restore a place with such a personal connection, and to do so in such a grand, visible, breathtaking way, is really incredible.”
During the restoration project, Amtrak had moved its waiting room and ticketing facilities to an adjacent building, but service was able to continue uninterrupted. Amtrak moved back into the Union Terminal facilities during the first week of November.
To mark the events leading up to the full public reopening on Nov. 17, Hefner says they’ll use projectors to light up the terminal’s exterior with different exhibits each evening. A large Christmas train display will open to the public Nov. 16. The display has been a tradition at the terminal since 1946.
