Union Station, Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Union Pacific Station was the best example of Streamline Moderne in Las Vegas. It was built in 1940 and replaced a 30-year-old Spanish-style station. It was demolished in the mid-1960s to build the Union Plaza Hotel. Amtrak continued train service to the back of the hotel until 1993.

The Union Plaza Hotel, now called the Plaza Hotel, announced in September, 2010 that it was closing its 1,037-room hotel tower and will lay off more than 400 employees, in order to make upgrades and re-open in a very difficult economy. The Plaza is the white building in the foreground of this photo:

Progress?!

Union Station, Portland, Maine

Union station opened in June of 1888 and was torn down in 1961 to make way for a shopping plaza. The furor over the razing of the station marked the beginning of the Greater Portland Landmarks organization and the preservation of historic buildings in Portland.