Ethereum

Highrise #198

Collection

Highrises

Description

**Union Station** **Art by:** Chris Hytha **Story by:** Mark Houser The clock tower of the oldest railroad passenger terminal still in use on the West Coast has stood for more than a century as a Portland landmark. Locals can thank Henry Villard, a meteoric magnate who saved the tower from a nervous boardroom that wanted it stricken from the blueprints to save money. Villard, a journalist who became a representative for railroad investors back in his native Germany, was besotted by Portland's potential. Backers helped him take over a small railroad there as well as a Columbia River steamship company; the first commercial use of Thomas Edison's light bulbs was on a boat in Villard's fleet. As Portland vied with Tacoma and Seattle to be the main terminus of the Northern Pacific, Villard pooled investors to seize control of that railroad. Spending sprees led to financial problems that saw him bounced from the top job and ended plans for a far more grandiose train station. But Villard used his boardroom influence to keep the centerpiece clock tower on a redesigned depot, though he never made it back to Portland to see the structure he championed. Neon signs tacked onto the tower in 1948 display the station's name and an exhortation to "Go by train."

Traits

Style

Romanesque

City

Portland

Region

West