Memphis Central Station: From rail hub to luxury hotel

Known as the Grand Central Station before 1944, Memphis Central Station is a passenger terminal located in the heart of Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. As a stop for the Amtrak City of New Orleans route, this historic beauty serves as a remnant of a bygone era. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the station opened in 1914 and was built on the site of the former Calhoun Street Station.

Once upon a time, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Rock Island shared this station. However, the station's history includes a 1939 incident where a switchtender was found fatally injured after lining Frisco train #106 to back into the station. This led to the Lavender v. Kurn case, decided by the Supreme Court in 1946, which upheld a claim for negligent wrongful death. Rock Island passenger train service to Memphis ended in 1967, and Frisco service ended a month later, leaving Illinois Central as the sole occupant.

In 1998, the station underwent a $23.2 million renovation that converted much of the former waiting area into a public meeting area and turned former Illinois Central office space into condominiums. Another transformation happened in 2019, when the station underwent a $55 million remodel that included a new Amtrak ticket office and the opening of the Central Station Hotel, Curio by Hilton.

While the station had a reputation as one of the worst stations on the Amtrak system from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, it now stands as one of only two Amtrak stations in Tennessee. It remains the only station in the state with full service, as the Newbern Depot is a flag stop.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons