Welcome
Welcome to historic Lawrence, Kansas, and its Visitor Information Center in the centuy-old Union Pacific Depot. Lawrence was founded in 1854 by antislavery forces determined to see that the newly opened Kansas territory joined the union as a free state. Today, Lawrence is a vibrant community whose culture is enriched by the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University and a variety of businesses based here. The universities are identified on the adjacent maps, which also provide hotel locations and highlight the historic downtown, museums and arts facilities, as well as the Oregon and Santa Fe trails.
This restored Union Pacific Depot is symbolic of the city's commitment to historic preservation and to the arts. The depot, which originally opened to the public in 1889, sat unused for many years before its renovation began in 1991. In 1996, the newly rehabilitated depot reopened as the Visitor Information Center and public meeting facility. Once again, the depot is the gateway to Lawrence.
When Charles Francis Adams, president of the Union Pacific Railroad, decided to build a bigger and better depot for its busy line through Lawrence, he turned to the highly respected Boston architect Henry Van Brunt. Van Brunt, who graduated from Harvard in 1854, had served an apprenticeship with noted American architect Richard Morris Hunt in New York. Van Brunt soon established a fine reputation for himself both in Boston, where he designed churches and buildings, and at Harvard University, in nearby Cambridge.
About the time Van Brunt received the Lawrence depot commission, he and his partner, Frank Howe, established an office in Kansas city, from which they produced designs for the Coates House Hotel and the Emery, Bird, & Thayer department store in Kansas City, as well as Spooner Hall at the University of Kansas. The design of this charming and sophisticated depot (on the site of it[s] predecessor, a smaller, more utilitarian building) blends proportions and forms of French vernacular architecture with the robust masonry exterior of the Richardson Romanesque.
The new building was hailed for its beauty when it opened in 1889. One of two railroad depots in the city, it became a focal point for the comings and goings typical of a college town. The depot was the point of departure and return for soldiers during World War I and World War II. It survived two devastating floods, in 1903 and 1951, when it was filled with water 30 inches deep. Even as railroad passenger traffic dwindled nationally, the Union Pacific Depot continued to receive and send off passengers until 1971.
The years took their toll on the depot. The canopy shelter on the west end of the building was demolished after being damaged in the 1903 flood. Sometime in the 1920's the building's prominent, but structurally deteriorated, steeple was removed. When the railroad discontinued freight service in 1984, it announced plans to tear the building down within a week.
Preservationists, history buffs, members of the community and even the University of Kansas rowing team rallied to save the building from demolition. After more than a decade, the Union Pacific Railroad agreed to sell the building to the city for one dollar. With title to the building, the City of Lawrence used local funds, state and federal grants and contributions from private citizens and businesses to restore the depot.
The $1 million renovation included restoring, repairing and cleaning the exterior, replacing the missing steeple and canopy, and partially reconfiguring the interior for new uses. Even before the renovated depot opened, residents clamored for use of its meeting rooms. Visitors to the city, perhaps drawn to the steeple as to a beacon, found the Visitor Information center even before signs pointed the way.
Once again, the historic Union Pacific Depot signals to visitors, "Welcome to Lawrence."
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Kansas River Flood of July 1951
High Water Line
Surveyed by the U.S. Geological Survey
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