Louisville's Union Station was formally opened on September 7, 1891 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. At the time it was said to be the largest railroad station in the southern United States. Construction began in 1880 but ran over budget and was not finished until 1889 to 1891.
Architect Henry C. Wolters designed it in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, with a clock tower, smaller towers and turrets, and barrel-vaulted ceilings. Inside, the walls used marble from Georgia, plus oak and southern pine. A fire in July 1905 closed it until that December, and an 84-paneled stained glass skylight replaced the old rose-colored windows.
In the 1920s it served 58 trains a day, and special trains brought fans to the Kentucky Derby. Today it is no longer a train station. Since 1980 it has been offices for the city's transit agency, TARC.