Missouri Pacific RR Building St Louis MO 7R2_DSC0652_16-09-01
by Greg Kluempers
Title
Missouri Pacific RR Building St Louis MO 7R2_DSC0652_16-09-01
Artist
Greg Kluempers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Missouri Pacific Railroad dates back to 1851, where, on July 4th, they broke ground on the first track west of the Mississippi River in St. Louis. In 1849 the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railroad was chartered by the State of Missouri on March 12 and was to extend to the western part of Missouri via Jefferson City and then on to the Pacific Ocean. After the 1873 railroad debt crisis, the name was changed to Missouri Pacific Railroad.
No. 11. Missouri Pacific Railroad. "Scenic Limited." West End Gray Summit Tunnel. Photograph by W. C. Persons, 1930s. Missouri History Museum Photographs and Prints Collections. Transportation. n39078.
During the 1860s Missouri was in a state of change. On February 9, 1861 the Confederate States of America was formed with Jefferson Davis as President which led to the start of the Civil War. From 1861 until 1865 the railroad systems came under great economic hardship. The Confederate States of America attempted to create their own railroad, but the strain was too much. At the conclusion of the Civil War, the Pacific Railroad became the first to service Kansas City in 1865.
In 1873 another hardship the railroad faced was the railroad debt crisis. In 1876 Pacific Railroad was reincorporation into Missouri Pacific Railway. From 1879 until 1892, a very successful New York investor, Jay Gould, led Missouri Pacifics expansion into Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. When Gould died, his son, George Gould inherited Missouri Pacific. George, unlike his father, was unable to control the company and in 1915 after Missouri Pacific filed for bankruptcy, George was removed and after the completion of the merger with St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, became Missouri Pacific Railroad.
In 1926 the Missouri Pacific Railroad began the construction of a 30 floor building in St. Louis which would become the home of the railroads offices. In 1928 with only 22 of 30 floors completed, the construction was stopped. In 1929 the addition of the 12 floors that wrap the main U-shape center were added as an attempt to create a mirror image of the existing building. However, with the Great Depression that America was facing, construction stopped a second time and was never completed.
With America entering into one of the hardest economic hardships, the rail road was expected to dissipate. After spending about two and a half million dollars on the construction of the Missouri Pacific Building, Missouri Pacific Railroad was bound to continue its growth.
In 1933 Missouri Pacific Railroad hit bottom again and filed for bankruptcy for the second time in its history. From 1933 until the completion of the reorganization of the company in 1956, Missouri Pacific Railroad was under the control of the Trusteeship.
In 1982 the MoPac system was operating 11,469 miles of track over 11 states and over 1,500 locomotives, was once again a pioneer in the rail industry. With the mega-merger with Union Pacific, Western Pacific and MoPac in 1982, the rail industry would be changed forever. Finally in 1997 the competition of 1982 merger was completed when Missouri Pacific Railroad was completely merged into Union Pacific with UPRR becoming the surviving corporation.
Union Pacific continued to house offices in the Missouri Pacific Building until 2005 when UPRR completed the consolidation of staff to their Omaha, NE headquarters. The Missouri Pacific Building was purchased by a local development company, Lawrence Group, with the intent to convert the former office building into luxury condominiums that would lunch in 2008. The building was finished in 2011 as ParkPacific Apartments, a 230 luxury apartment building.
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September 12th, 2016
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