Portland Then/Now: Union Station

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Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Union Station Exterior from Johnson Street

Union Station Exterior from Johnson, circa 1913. City of Portland Archives. A2009-009.568

Union Station Exterior from Johnson Street

Union Station Exterior from NW Lovejoy Court. 2014

As much as Portland changes, it also stays the same. Sort of.

Especially when it comes to Old Town's iconic Union Station, pictured here both in (circa) 1913 and 101 years later in 2014.

In the top photo, from the city of Portland Archives, you can make out the train station exterior from what seems to be Northwest Johnson Street. The moody and downright dusty photo includes signage from the National Express Company, plenty of horse-drawn carriages, a sign for the Olympia Hotel, and a billboard for a product advertising something called "Mascot."

The second photo was shot Sept. 2, 2014, from the viewpoint of NW Lovejoy Court. The area to the far right (and just out of the photograph) is no longer home to rail cars or other tracks. It has long since been replaced by downtown Portland's main terminal for the U.S. Post Office and more recently the condos that dot the Pearl District.

What hasn't changed though, is Union Station itself, at least not from the outside. What else hasn't changed is the skeletal ramp that supports Northwest Broadway on its way to the Broadway Bridge that has been home to many a pigeon over the years (just look down).