[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 138 (Thursday, September 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1347-E1348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING TOLEDO'S MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PLAZA TRAIN TERMINAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 24, 2015

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 65th 
anniversary of Toledo's unique train station. Toledo's Union Terminal, 
now known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza, celebrated its 65th 
year serving America's rail system on September 22, 2015.
  Toledo's station is the busiest rail station in Ohio. It opened with 
fanfare just south of downtown Toledo in 1950. Envisioned as the 
presentation of the city to the world, Toledo's train terminal was a 
modern design creatively utilizing the glass which put Toledo on the 
world stage.
  As the 20th Century dawned, Toledoans clamored for a modern station 
with a look toward the future, even cheering when the city's train 
depot caught fire in 1930. However, it would be decades before the 1886 
Victorian structure would be replaced. Following WWII railroads again 
turned toward infrastructure improvements, including the Toledo 
station.
  As Amtrak describes in its Great American Stations, ``Upon its 
opening in September 1950, Toledo Union Station was hailed in the New 
York Times as the ``$5,000,000 Dream of 40 Years,'' and a week of 
events was planned to celebrate the new building. Admiral Chester 
Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the combined American forces in the 
Pacific during World War II, was invited as the principal speaker. 
Events included a ``Youngster's Day,'' a city-wide tea party, and 
``Glass Day'' during which the city's glass manufacturers unveiled a 
Vitrolite (an opaque, pigmented glass then manufactured by the local 
Libby Owens Ford Company) mural in the building. The highlight of the 
festivities was the opening day parade where a model of the old Union 
Depot was set on fire.
  ``The station which rose along Emerald Ave from 1947 to 1950 was 
unabashedly modern, incorporating restrained Art Deco lines and large 
expanses of glass block in reference to the city's main industry. 
Commentators expounded upon the variety of glass used in the building, 
including plate glass, glass block, double-glazed and tempered glass. 
Soon enough, the press referred to the station as the `Palace of 
Glass.' ''
  In 1995 the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority purchased Union 
Terminal from Conrail,

[[Page E1348]]

which has succeeded New York Central. With the help of significant 
federal investment augmented by a partnership from state and private 
sources, the station underwent a major renovation and was renamed 
Central Union Plaza. Amtrak's history notes that ``The Port Authority 
worked with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Northwest 
Ohio Historic Preservation Council in order to maintain the building's 
essential historic design features remained intact.'' Because ``City 
funding stipulated that one percent of project monies had to be used on 
public art, the Port Authority worked with the Arts Commission of 
Greater Toledo to add contemporary sculptures to the grounds to enhance 
its function as a vital piece of the public realm.''
  In 2001, the station was renamed in honor of eminent civil rights 
leader Martin Luther King, Jr. It now serves as a modern train station 
through which more than 63,000 travelers pass each year. It will soon 
add bus service as it grows into a greater multimodal transportation 
hub linking rail and bus, as well as proximity to waterborne vessels.
  Historically, the Toledo passenger rail center has anchored northwest 
Ohio along the well-established east-west Chicago-Cleveland freight and 
passenger rail route so vital to the economy of the region and northern 
Ohio. Meeting the needs of the future for this region will require the 
recognition that modernization of this rail corridor is essential to 
future commerce including separation of freight and passenger service 
to make both more efficient.
  I am honored this week to join with the community of Toledo, Ohio in 
celebrating the anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza, a 
jewel in our city born of an era when trains were a modern marvel of 
transportation and traveling toward a future which meets the needs of 
travels in the 21st Century and beyond.

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