Mobile & Ohio Union Terminal

Mobile's grand Union Terminal was opened to the public in 1907, and served three railroads. Located on Beaureguard Street and originally constructed by the Mobile & Ohio, it would also see service with the GM&O throughout the remainder of passenger operations, and eventually end its useful life as an office complex for the Illinois Central Gulf. Standing empty and vandalized over the years, the City of Mobile has undertaken a $15M renovation and reconstruction project to make the building useable as a transportation hub, combining bus, taxi, and hopefully rail service, into one facility. This project has been dubbed one of Mobile's "String Of Pearls".

When the terminal building was built, an arched shed covered eight tracks which terminated at the rear for passengers to embark and disembark in all weather conditions. The renovation project by the city does not include the restoration of this structure in its plans. This shed is quite visible in the 1940 aerial image at right.

During the lifetime of the Mobile & Bay Shore railroad, its passenger trains and motor cars would have called both this new building and its predecessor its home terminal.

To handle the vast quantities of freight transported by the railroad, the M&O built this freight house on Beaureguard Street, just a short distance from the where the grand Union Terminal would stand. The freight building was constructed in 1858, and was enlarged in 1882 with a 120' addition on the north end. Sadly, the freight house no longer exists. It was demolished in the 1980's to allow for the construction of the Robert M. Hope overpass into the Alabama State Docks.