Built in 1902 at the peak of America's railroad era, Union Station was San Antonio's gateway to California for travelers and freight moving east from New Orleans. The station was designed in a Spanish Renaissance Revival style, with a red-tiled roof, arched colonnades, and a clock tower that announced arrivals and departures to the surrounding neighborhood. In its heyday, Union Station served multiple rail lines simultaneously — the Southern Pacific's famous Sunset Limited, which connected New Orleans to Los Angeles through San Antonio, made this its principal Texas stop.
Sleeping cars, dining cars, and parlor cars disgorged passengers who had traveled from New York or Chicago and were experiencing their first taste of the Southwest: the dry heat, the limestone architecture, the sound of Spanish in the streets outside. Military servicemen passed through by the hundreds of thousands during both World Wars, and returning soldiers first saw American soil again through the station's arched windows. Amtrak discontinued most San Antonio service in the 1990s, and the station was converted into Sunset Station — an events and entertainment venue that preserved the historic shell while giving it a new economic purpose.
The ghost of the railroad still haunts the vaulted waiting hall.