Louisville, KY: 1891 B&O+C&O+IC+Big Four 7th Street Station, Central Station and Union Depot

(Satellite, as with many big city depots, it was torn down to make way for an interstate.)

This station has three names: 7th Street Station, Central Station and Union Depot, and it served the four railroads in the title. Louisville also had a Union Station, but it served just three railroads: L&N, Pennsy and Monon.

 

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This photo motivated me to research the riverfront of Louisville. The 7th Street Station is out-of-frame "below" this photo. What we see on the other side of the 1929 George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge is freight houses.

Richard Sattich posted
Aerial view of River Road and downtown Louisville, Kentucky, 1956. ... An aerial view of River Rd. and downtown Louisville. The Ohio River is on the left and the U.S. Coast Guard Lifesaving Station can be seen. Cars are parked along the wharf. The Louisville Gas & Electric waterside station can be seen, along with its six smokestacks. Additional buildings downtown are in view.
Maison Young shared

 

What struck me was that the 1929 George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge was the only vehicle-only bridge in the first half of the 20th Century. (When built, the K&IT Bridge also carried horse&wagons and pedestrians.) The tracks going west in this topo excerpt followed the river to the K&IT Bridge. The K&IT Bridge connected with B&O and C&O in Indiana. The track slanting up on the right side is the connection to the Big Four Bridge. That bridge also connected with B&O. So, in hindsight, I don't know which bridge the B&O used to access this station. Or maybe they used both so that they could run through the city.

1951/51 New Albany and Jeffersonville Quads @ 24,000

 

Mar 24, 1949 @ 14,000; AR1IN0000050007

The Illinois Central must have shared the route labeled PENSSYLVANIA on this map to access this station. (The Pennsy woul have used that route to access the Union Station.)

1951/51 New Albany and 1955/57 Louisville West Quads @ 24,000

hagley
1907

This would have been during the 1937 flood.

ebay

That flood brought out people with their cameras.

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During construction, the depot was destroyed by a tornado. [city-data, JefferyT's comment]

louisville [The links did not work for me, so I saved the index information.]