Shreveport Union Station


Shreveport Union Station was a passenger station on Louisiana Avenue, at Lake Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. Built in 1897 by the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company, it was the oldest of Shreveport's four passenger railroad stations. With a tall tower, the station became a landmark in downtown Shreveport. It had its highest levels of service in the 1920s, typically hosting 35 passenger trains a day.
As a union station, it was served by trains of the Kansas City Southern Railway, Illinois Central, St. Louis Southwestern Railway, and Southern Pacific.

Passenger operations

Noteworthy passenger trains in 1958 included:
Noteworthy passenger trains in 1951 consisted of:
  • St. Louis Southwestern Railway:
  • *unnamed Shreveport to Lewisville train
  • Southern Pacific:
  • *unnamed Shreveport to Galveston via Houston trains

Decline and demise

By 1965, service reduced to the Illinois Central's Southwestern Limited and the Kansas City Southern's Kansas City, NewOrleans and Port Arthur trains.
The Southern Belle, the last train to serve Union Station, had its final run on November 2, 1969. The station closed the next day. The station burned two days after the station's closing. The fire department indicated that the fire began in the basement. The remaining parts of the building were soon demolished. The Texas and Pacific's remnant of its Louisiana Eagle was the final train to serve Shreveport, at the T&P station in the city.