The Southern Pacific Depot at Paul Square was one of the main stopping points along the famous Sunset Limited Route to California. Today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is remembered as “the building of 1000 lights” because of the many electric lights installed during its construction.The same lights that gave Sunset Station it's "building of 1,000 lights" nickname contributed to a 1907 electrical fire that destroyed the roof and severely damaged the southwest corner of the building, which was repaired in the following year. The Depot, since then, has been carefully restored to its original splendor including the re-creation of the 16-foot-diameter rose window that fills the north end of the building. Restoration of the Sunset Station is a continual project as well as the revitalization of the Historic St. Paul Square District, which was once the hub for the incoming and outgoing military personnel during World War II.
Today, Sunset Station is still the anchor in the heart of the St. Paul Square District. With its close proximity to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and the Alamodome, this premiere entertainment venue offers event planners a unique canvas with unlimited options to create memorable experiences for their guests. The latest additions to the historic district are the University of Houston's Conrad Hilton College School of Hospitality, Smoke - The Restaurant, and Tony G's Soul Food. Visitors are encouraged to culminate their visit to St. Paul Square with a self-guided walking tour of the unique variety of noteworthy buildings.
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Historic Sunset Station (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||||||
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General information | ||||||||||||||||
Location | Sunset Station 1174 E Commerce St San Antonio, Texas Amtrak Depot 350 Hoefgen Street San Antonio, Texas United States | |||||||||||||||
Owned by | VIA Metropolitan Transit | |||||||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side & 1 island platform | |||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Connections | Thruway Motorcoach | |||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||
Parking | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||
Station code | Amtrak code: SAS | |||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1998 | |||||||||||||||
Passengers | ||||||||||||||||
2017 | 57,048
[1] ![]() | |||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Station | ||||||||||||||||
Location | San Antonio, Texas | |||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 29°25′12″N 98°28′40″W / 29.42000°N 98.47778°W | |||||||||||||||
Built | 1902 | |||||||||||||||
Architect | Daniel J. Patterson | |||||||||||||||
Architectural style | Spanish Mission | |||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 75001955 | |||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | May 29, 1975 |
Amtrak previously utilized the historic Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) Station, that was also known as the Sunset Station. It was designed by SP's architect Daniel J. Patterson in the Spanish Mission Revival style, and built in 1902 by the SP. The train station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Amtrak moved operations in 1998 to a smaller depot that was built adjacent to the older Sunset Station. Under its owner, VIA Metropolitan Transit, the historic Sunset Station underwent an extensive restoration and now serves as an entertainment complex. The station also neighbors the Alamodome. There is even a preserved 2-8-2 Baldwin "Mikado" steam locomotive that had belonged to the Southern Pacific railroad, was donated to the City of San Antonio at the end of its service life in 1956, and placed on static display at nearby Maverick Park for many years before being relocated to the station. Another "Mikado", donated simultaneously to the City of Austin, is operated on excursion trains for live steam enthusiasts by the Austin Steam Train Association.
The MKT's station was demolished in 1969. The Missouri Pacific abandoned their station in 1970 and it languished, abandoned, for almost eighteen years until the San Antonio City Employees Credit Union salvaged it and brought it back into public use. Meanwhile, the grand old Sunset Station soldiered on. When Southern Pacific also got out of the passenger business in 1970, the station passed into the hands of AMTRAK, and the building was kept in public use as San Antonio's only train station.
Over time, significant alterations were made to the building. The most noticeable from the outside was the removal of the magnificent Southern Pacific stained glass window. It was replaced by an AMTRAK symbol on a background the same color as the rest of the building. What happened to the original window remains a mystery. Maybe it is in storage, or it is on private display somewhere. This author believes it was simply destroyed, as so many wonderful artifacts were. It is the most expedient, cheapest and short sighted option, which would be in keeping with the spirit of the times back then.
The fate of the depot came into question for two main reasons. The facility was altogether too large for AMTRAK's relatively small needs. Furthermore, all buildings require maintenance, but an almost one hundred year old structure as ornate and complex as the Sunset depot posed a financial burden beyond AMTRAK's capacity to maintain. AMTRAK has always been a cash strapped organization and they are not really in the historic building preservation business.
*put into own words*
San Antonio is an Amtrak railroad station located on the eastern portion of Downtown San Antonio, in San Antonio, Texas.
San Antonio Station serves two Amtrak lines; the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. The two lines are actually part of the same train from Los Angeles, California, but splits at this station with the Sunset Limited continuing onto New Orleans, Louisiana and the Texas Eagle to Chicago, Illinois.
San Antonio Station provides an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach route serving Harlingen, Brownsville, and McAllen, Texas.
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The Southern Pacific Depot at Paul Square was one of the main stopping points along the famous Sunset Limited Route to California. Today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is remembered as “the building of 1000 lights” because of the many electric lights installed during its construction.The same lights that gave Sunset Station it's "building of 1,000 lights" nickname contributed to a 1907 electrical fire that destroyed the roof and severely damaged the southwest corner of the building, which was repaired in the following year. The Depot, since then, has been carefully restored to its original splendor including the re-creation of the 16-foot-diameter rose window that fills the north end of the building. Restoration of the Sunset Station is a continual project as well as the revitalization of the Historic St. Paul Square District, which was once the hub for the incoming and outgoing military personnel during World War II.
Today, Sunset Station is still the anchor in the heart of the St. Paul Square District. With its close proximity to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and the Alamodome, this premiere entertainment venue offers event planners a unique canvas with unlimited options to create memorable experiences for their guests. The latest additions to the historic district are the University of Houston's Conrad Hilton College School of Hospitality, Smoke - The Restaurant, and Tony G's Soul Food. Visitors are encouraged to culminate their visit to St. Paul Square with a self-guided walking tour of the unique variety of noteworthy buildings.
*** Ad sources*
Historic Sunset Station (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||||||||||||||
General information | ||||||||||||||||
Location | Sunset Station 1174 E Commerce St San Antonio, Texas Amtrak Depot 350 Hoefgen Street San Antonio, Texas United States | |||||||||||||||
Owned by | VIA Metropolitan Transit | |||||||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side & 1 island platform | |||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Connections | Thruway Motorcoach | |||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||
Parking | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||
Station code | Amtrak code: SAS | |||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1998 | |||||||||||||||
Passengers | ||||||||||||||||
2017 | 57,048
[1] ![]() | |||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Station | ||||||||||||||||
Location | San Antonio, Texas | |||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 29°25′12″N 98°28′40″W / 29.42000°N 98.47778°W | |||||||||||||||
Built | 1902 | |||||||||||||||
Architect | Daniel J. Patterson | |||||||||||||||
Architectural style | Spanish Mission | |||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 75001955 | |||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | May 29, 1975 |
Amtrak previously utilized the historic Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) Station, that was also known as the Sunset Station. It was designed by SP's architect Daniel J. Patterson in the Spanish Mission Revival style, and built in 1902 by the SP. The train station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Amtrak moved operations in 1998 to a smaller depot that was built adjacent to the older Sunset Station. Under its owner, VIA Metropolitan Transit, the historic Sunset Station underwent an extensive restoration and now serves as an entertainment complex. The station also neighbors the Alamodome. There is even a preserved 2-8-2 Baldwin "Mikado" steam locomotive that had belonged to the Southern Pacific railroad, was donated to the City of San Antonio at the end of its service life in 1956, and placed on static display at nearby Maverick Park for many years before being relocated to the station. Another "Mikado", donated simultaneously to the City of Austin, is operated on excursion trains for live steam enthusiasts by the Austin Steam Train Association.
The MKT's station was demolished in 1969. The Missouri Pacific abandoned their station in 1970 and it languished, abandoned, for almost eighteen years until the San Antonio City Employees Credit Union salvaged it and brought it back into public use. Meanwhile, the grand old Sunset Station soldiered on. When Southern Pacific also got out of the passenger business in 1970, the station passed into the hands of AMTRAK, and the building was kept in public use as San Antonio's only train station.
Over time, significant alterations were made to the building. The most noticeable from the outside was the removal of the magnificent Southern Pacific stained glass window. It was replaced by an AMTRAK symbol on a background the same color as the rest of the building. What happened to the original window remains a mystery. Maybe it is in storage, or it is on private display somewhere. This author believes it was simply destroyed, as so many wonderful artifacts were. It is the most expedient, cheapest and short sighted option, which would be in keeping with the spirit of the times back then.
The fate of the depot came into question for two main reasons. The facility was altogether too large for AMTRAK's relatively small needs. Furthermore, all buildings require maintenance, but an almost one hundred year old structure as ornate and complex as the Sunset depot posed a financial burden beyond AMTRAK's capacity to maintain. AMTRAK has always been a cash strapped organization and they are not really in the historic building preservation business.
*put into own words*
San Antonio is an Amtrak railroad station located on the eastern portion of Downtown San Antonio, in San Antonio, Texas.
San Antonio Station serves two Amtrak lines; the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. The two lines are actually part of the same train from Los Angeles, California, but splits at this station with the Sunset Limited continuing onto New Orleans, Louisiana and the Texas Eagle to Chicago, Illinois.
San Antonio Station provides an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach route serving Harlingen, Brownsville, and McAllen, Texas.
** add links
Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
![]() | This is a user sandbox of
SaenzCPP. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |