Portland Union Station

The most prominent feature of Portland Union Station is the tall, narrow clock tower that rises nearly one hundred fifty feet above the rail yards. It stands on a base of basalt and brick, topped with a distinctive four-sided clock. When the station opened in eighteen ninety-six, the railroad companies commissioned the tower to broadcast their presence across the city. Henry Villard, the railroad tycoon behind the project, once used his own money to finish the station when company funds stalled.