You don’t need a ticket to spend the day inside Denver’s most beautiful building

Denver’s grand hall that never closed its doors

Denver Union Station has survived fire, near-demolition, and decades of neglect to become something rare in any American city: a grand, historic public space where anyone can walk in, sit down, and stay as long as they want.

No ticket. No cover charge.

Just 12,000 square feet of soaring ceilings, original chandeliers, and 140 years of history pressing in from every wall.

The station sits at the heart of LoDo, Denver’s oldest neighborhood, and it still has a few surprises waiting.

Denver once had four separate train stations

Before Union Station opened on June 1, 1881, Denver ran four competing railroad depots, and the city had finally had enough.

The new depot pulled them all into one central hub, built from pink volcanic rhyolite stone and stretching over 500 feet long. It was the largest structure in the West at the time.

Thirteen years later, an electrical fire gutted the center section. The city rebuilt.

By 1914, growing rail traffic demanded something bigger, and Denver firm Gove and Walsh replaced the center with the Beaux-Arts granite building you walk into today.

80 trains a day rolled through during World War II

The station’s busiest years came during the 1940s, when more than 80 trains passed through daily, carrying soldiers and civilians across the country.

Those trains are gone now, but the building absorbed all of it, and the walls remember.

A $500 million transit-oriented redevelopment, completed in 2014, transformed 19.5 acres of former railyards around the station and gave the historic building a second life.

The Great Hall reopened to the public, and LoDo woke up around it.

The Great Hall’s ceiling hides 2,300 carved flowers

Step inside the Great Hall and look up. Three massive two-story arched windows pull light across the room, and original chandeliers hang from ceilings tall enough to make you feel small in a good way.

Now look closer at the plaster arches framing those windows. Each one is covered in carved columbines, Colorado’s state flower, about 2,300 of them total.

The hall went through an $11 million renovation in 2024, with new elevated seating and custom furniture added, but the chandeliers and the columbines stayed right where they were.

That red neon sign almost came too late

The red neon “Travel by Train” sign crowning the station’s facade went up in 1953, right as train travel was already collapsing across the country.

It reads like a plea now, though nobody planned it that way.

The sign has become one of Denver’s most recognized landmarks, glowing above the carved granite facade and the station clock every night. The National Register of Historic Places added the building in 1974.

Today, the sign greets passengers stepping off the commuter rail from the airport, which feels like exactly the right kind of irony.

A welcome arch with a word nobody understood

In 1906, Denver put up a 65-foot arch in front of the station, lined with more than 2,000 light bulbs. One side said “Welcome.”

The other said “Mizpah,” a Hebrew blessing meaning roughly “the Lord watch between me and thee.” Local storytellers apparently told tourists it was a Native American phrase for “Howdy, Partner.”

The city tore the arch down in 1931, calling it a traffic hazard. If you walk the blocks near the station today, look at the street lamps.

Some of them still carry the words “Welcome” and “Mizpah.”

Workers found wallets and trading cards inside the benches

During the 2012-2014 renovation, crews had to take apart the Great Hall’s original waiting benches because of hazardous materials buried inside them.

When they pulled the benches apart, they found coins, claim tickets, wallet-sized photographs, newspaper clippings, and trading cards wedged into the seams and cracks, lost by passengers over decades.

A selection of those found objects now sits in a display case in the south wing guest corridor on the second floor. The original 1914 station blueprints are also on display in the building.

Wynkoop Plaza runs fountains and farmers markets all summer

Out front, Wynkoop Plaza gives you a full outdoor public square with movable chairs, shade trees, and room to breathe.

In warmer months, pop-up fountains in the south plaza shoot water in programmed patterns, and kids find them fast.

A Saturday farmers market runs through summer with dozens of local Colorado vendors, and the Urban Market, a Denver tradition since 2005, brings local artists and makers on select weekends from late spring through early fall.

Free live music and seasonal festivals fill the plaza at regular intervals.

Two James Beard chefs set up shop at the station

The dining at Denver Union Station runs well past airport-food territory.

Mercantile Dining and Provision, from James Beard Award-winning chef Alex Seidel, doubles as a European-style market. Ultreia, from another James Beard winner, Jennifer Jasinski, serves Iberian tapas and pintxos.

The Terminal Bar operates inside the station’s original ticketing office, where you order at the same window passengers once used to buy train tickets.

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery, has built a following around creative pancake flights, and Milkbox scoops locally made Little Man Ice Cream in 16 rotating flavors.

The Cooper Lounge has a secret bar above it

Climb to the mezzanine and the Cooper Lounge looks down over the Great Hall from the best vantage point in the building.

The Art Deco-inspired room has plush seating and craft cocktails, and above it sits a smaller, speakeasy-style bar that requires an escort to enter if space allows. You don’t need to be a hotel guest to get in.

Seating is first-come, first-served, and the lounge got new custom furniture and booths as part of the 2024 renovation. It’s worth the walk up.

A bookstore that’s been part of Denver since 1971

The shops inside the station lean toward local. Tattered Cover Book Store, a Colorado institution with roots going back to 1971, runs a location here.

5 Green Boxes carries jewelry, home goods, and the kind of gifts you don’t find in chain stores.

A sculpture called “Suitcases,” by Phil Bender, stacks antique hand luggage near the main floor in a nod to the station’s travel history.

Seasonal pop-up markets and holiday events pull additional vendors into the Great Hall and plaza throughout the year.

You can ride the A Line straight from the airport

Denver Union Station is the central hub for RTD bus, light rail, and commuter rail across the metro area. The A Line commuter rail runs from Denver International Airport to the station in about 37 minutes.

Amtrak’s California Zephyr stops daily, running between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area through the Rocky Mountains.

Behind the historic building, a modern open-air train hall designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill sits under a dramatic curved white fabric canopy, and a 22-gate underground bus concourse stretches two city blocks beneath your feet.

More than 30,000 people walk through here every day

The station pulls in more than 30,000 people daily, a mix of commuters, travelers, and people who simply come to sit in the Great Hall.

It anchors LoDo, one of Denver’s most walkable stretches, with 19th-century brick buildings, independent restaurants, and Coors Field all within easy reach.

The 2014 redevelopment gets credit for sparking a broader wave of investment across Lower Downtown. More than 140 years after it first opened, the station is still the place Denver keeps coming back to.

Visit Denver Union Station in Colorado

Denver Union Station sits at 1701 Wynkoop St. in the LoDo neighborhood. The Great Hall is open daily and free to enter with no ticket or reservation needed.

You can get there on the RTD A Line from Denver International Airport in about 37 minutes, or by light rail, bus, or car.

The Saturday farmers market runs through summer on Wynkoop Plaza, and Urban Markets take place on select weekends from late spring through early fall.

Check the official website for current event listings and vendor schedules.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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