Rio Grande Depot: The Station Built Out of Spite
Near Salt Lake City, Utah
The grand stone building you see on the west edge of downtown Salt Lake City was born of pure railroad rivalry. When the Union Pacific opened its depot here in nineteen oh nine for three hundred thousand dollars, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad responded by commissioning Chicago architect Henry Schlacks to build something bigger and better. The result, completed in nineteen ten for seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, was a soaring Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts palace of arched windows and vaulted ceilings that made the Union Pacific station look modest by comparison.
The Rio Grande Depot served passengers for decades, then hosted Amtrak from nineteen eighty-six until nineteen ninety-nine, connecting riders on the California Zephyr to Denver and beyond. Today the building is a Utah landmark, its competitive origins long forgotten inside its elegant halls.
