Science City at Union Station – Kansas City, Missouri

Science City at Union Station – Kansas City, Missouri. Science City at Union Station is full of adventures and discoveries. You can walk through a human body, design a car, solve a crime, track a tornado, dig up old bones and defy gravity on a bike that’s 30 feet up in the air!

KC Rail Experience (Enter through Sprint Festival Plaza Tuesday – Sunday)

The KC Rail Experience is a hands-on journey through the exciting history of the American railroad. Witness the tradition of travel that united Americans from coast to coast, shaping the destiny of the Kansas City region and the nation as a whole. There are lots of adventures to participate in with the KC Rail Experience!
Admission to the Union Station building is FREE, but there is a charge for the attractions.

Round Trip Ticket
(Best value) $13.95

A Round Trip Ticket is your best value, with admission to all attractions: KC Rail Experience, Science City, Gottlieb Planetarium, traveling exhibits and one Regnier Extreme Screen movie.

Express Ticket
(General Admission) $8.95

Admission to: Science City, traveling exhibits and Gottlieb Planetarium.
One Way Ticket $5.95

Your choice of the following: KC Rail Experience, Gottlieb Planetarium or one Regnier Extreme Screen movie.
Purchasing tickets
» Union Station’s ticketing center is located on the lower level, just inside the doors leading from the West Yards parking structure.

» Self-service ticket kiosks are located in the ticketing center and by the Information Booth in the Grand Hall.

Candy Coffee and a Smile
Candy, Coffee and a Smile is a free Liberty Memorial Museum exhibit that tells the story of the Red Cross canteen located inside Union Station during World War I. The canteen was a favorite spot for soldiers to get candy, coffee, cigarettes and a smile from Red Cross volunteers.

The exhibit also shows you life six years after the war as talk turns to the construction of a memorial for those lost in the war. Learn how lumber baron Robert A. Long, original owner of the home of the Kansas City Museum, helped finance what became known as the Liberty Memorial.

Candy, Coffee and a Smile is located on the third floor balcony of Union Station’s Grand Hall. You can reach the exhibit by taking elevators by the Food Court or Information Booth to the 3rd floor.

2001 Time Capsule
Now on permanent display at Union Station, is a time capsule created to be opened by city leaders of the next century on Jan. 1, 2101. The time capsule was put together in 2000 as part of the city’s 150th birthday celebration.

The capsule is encased in a wall at the top of the escalators in Union Station’s Grand Hall. Inside are more than 800 messages from area mayors and regular citizens along with several items depicting life in the year 2000. Directly across from the new time capsule is a display featuring items found in the 1900 Century Box opened New Year’s Day 2001 at Union Station.

About Union Station
Built in 1914, Union Station encompasses 850,000 square feet and originally featured 900 rooms. In its prime as a working train station, accommodated tens of thousands of passengers every year. At its peak during WWII, an estimated one million travelers passed through the Station. The North Waiting Room (now the Sprint Festival Plaza) could hold 10,000 people and the complex included restaurants, a cigar store, barber shop, railroad offices, the nation’s largest Railway Express Building (used for shipping freight and mail) as well as a powerhouse providing steam and power.

Closed in the 1980s, the Station sat empty and neglected, escaping demolition on several occasions. In 1996, a historic bi-state initiative was passed to fund the Station’s renovation, which was completed in 1999.

The Station is once again a popular destination for the surrounding community just stopping by for lunch or to mail a letter from the post office in the west end of the Grand Hall. The station also draws tourists from all over the world who marvel at the Grand Hall’s 95-foot ceiling, three 3,500-pound chandeliers and the six-foot wide clock hanging in the Station’s central arch.

Today’s Union Station is filled with fine restaurants and unique shops. And just like in 1914, you can catch the train at Union Station’s Amtrak stop.

Location: 30 W. Pershing Rd. Suite 850 Kansas City, MO

Phone: (816) 460-2020 or 1-877-SCI-CITY (724-8489)