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The Museums at Union Station was founded in 1978 by the Union Station Development Corporation (USDC) and Elizabeth “Teddy” Griffith, a historian with a vision for social history and a love for Ogden. To this day, Union Station preserves the history of Utah railroading, the history of Ogden, and the cultural heritage and legacy of everyone who has come through or lived in Ogden. In 1988, Union Station was designated as the Utah State Railroad Museum. Today, it holds this museum, as well as the Browning Firearms Museum, the Browning-Kimball Car Museum, and two art galleries. The museum’s collection contains around 50,000 objects, including photographs, prints, costumes, paintings, sculpture, railroad ephemera, and more.
To preserve and use Ogden’s stories to inspire curiosity and inquiry; and to help people make meaningful, personal connections with history.
To claim Ogden, Tell its Stories, Shape Our Future
In 1870, the first Union Station was built in Ogden, bringing the wealth of the new Transcontinental Railroad to Ogden. Ogden quickly grew, as people immigrated into Ogden and began their lives. In 1889, a new, much larger Union Station was built to accommodate the mass of people coming through the station each day. Ogden became “Junction City,” as it was home to train junctions that connected the east coast to west coast; connected Mexico to Canada. This second Union Station’s life was cut short however, as in February 1923, the building burned. The fires raged throughout the night, but a brave telegraph operator named Fanny McCarty saved everyone, making the building the only fatality that night.
The husk of Union Station stood standing for weeks, and employees continued to work in unsafe conditions. This continued until a ticket clerk, Frank Yentzer, was crushed from a falling piece of roof while working in the temporary ticket office. After this tragic event, a third Union Station, the Union Station standing today, was built. Union Station opened on November 22, 1924.
It was said that “You can’t go anywhere without coming to Ogden.” Union Station was the hub of Western rail travel for many decades. All good things must come to an end, however, and rail travel slowly was replaced by automobiles and air travel. As rail travel declined, Ogdenites began thinking of the future of Union Station, and began plans to transition it into a cultural center and museum.
The Museums at Union Station was founded in 1978 by the Union Station Development Corporation (USDC) and Elizabeth “Teddy” Griffith, a historian with a vision for social history and a love for Ogden. To this day, Union Station preserves the history of Utah railroading, the history of Ogden, and the cultural heritage and legacy of everyone who has come through or lived in Ogden. In 1988, Union Station was designated as the Utah State Railroad Museum. Today, it holds this museum, as well as the Browning Firearms Museum, the Browning-Kimball Car Museum, and two art galleries. The museum’s collection contains around 50,000 objects, including photographs, prints, costumes, paintings, sculpture, railroad ephemera, and more.