Union Station Baggage Building and Cummins Station

This tour ends at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, located in the historic Baggage Building of Union Station. The building was the final destination for baggage, but also contained shops and newsstands for passengers. The entrance is off of Tenth Avenue South between Union Station and the Frist Art Museum. Today it is a bar and restaurant called the Flying Saucer, decorated with historic plates from around the world.

As you walk to view the Baggage Building, note the large red brick building across Demonbreun Street. This is Cummins Station, a four-story concrete building constructed in 1906, that served as a commercial terminal and warehouse for Union Station. Cummins Station advertised that it was built using the most modern techniques and materials and boasted that the building was fireproof, and uninhabitable to rats. Some of Nashville’s top businesses were the first tenants of the building, including Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, which roasted the famous Maxwell House Coffee. Dozens of freight cars were handled daily at the tracks at the rear entrances along the rail lines. Walk across Demonbreun Street to get a closer look at Cummins Station. Today it houses a variety of offices and shops and still features impressive architecture and a train car on the west side of the building.

Congratulations! You’ve finished the New South Nashville tour. As Nashville entered the twentieth century, it emerged as a prominent Southern center of industry, education, religion, and culture. Shifting from the river trade that boomed near Rutledge Hill to the commercial and passenger railroads—Nashville’s economy and population grew tremendously from 1865 to the early 1900s. Today, the legacy of change in the late nineteenth century can be seen in the many historic buildings that date to this era. We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the sites—on Nashville Sites. Please visit us again to take additional thematic tours. This is Jim Hoobler, signing off.