The Southern Railway Terminal, originally officially "New Orleans Terminal", in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

was constructed by the Southern Railway in 1908 on the neutral ground of

Basin Street Basin Street or Rue Bassin in French, is a street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It parallels Rampart Street one block lakeside, or inland, from the boundary of the French Quarter, running from Canal Street down 5 blocks past Saint Louis Cemetery. ...

at the intersection of

Canal Street Canal Street may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Canal Street (Manchester), Manchester, England * Canal Street, Oxford, Jericho, Oxford, England United States * Canal Street (Buffalo), a street and district at the western terminus of the Er ...

. The building was designed by

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

, who was also the architect for the

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

in Washington D.C. The station also served the

New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad The New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad was a Class I railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States. The railroad operated of road from its completion in 1883 until it was absorbed by the Alabama Great Southern Railroad subsidia ...

and the New Orleans Terminal Company. It was the terminus for many of Southern's premier trains, most notably the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

.'' As such, it was the "front door" to New Orleans for many passengers from the Northeast for most of the first half of the 20th century. The Gulf Mobile & Ohio Little Rebel trains also operated into Terminal Station. From New Orleans, Southern provided service to the following areas: * Northern Gateway (Cincinnati, Louisville and Washington D.C.) * Western Gateway (Memphis and St. Louis) * Ports (Baltimore, Brunswick, Charleston, Gulfport, Jacksonville, and Savannah) The station was demolished in 1956 after all passenger service was relocated to the new Union Passenger Terminal. After station and tracks were removed the neutral ground was landscaped and the area was designated as the "Garden of the Americas." NOTerminalLOCDetroitA

References

External links

Article from ''The American Architect'' (1909) with floor plan
{{Commons category, New Orleans Terminal Transportation buildings and structures in New Orleans Railway stations in the United States opened in 1905 Demolished railway stations in the United States

Former railway stations in Louisiana Railway stations in the United States closed in 1954