Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Puglia Italy - Matera
Italy • 8 days, 7 nights
Southern Italy: Castles, Caves & Coastal Treasures in Puglia
from
Turkmenistan Gates of Hell Darvaza crater
Turkmenistan • 10 days, 9 nights
Turkmenistan & the Gates of Hell
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Nagi Gumba
Top floor of castle.
Kifune Castle
 The front of Asian Garden Mall.
Asian Garden Mall
The cable car is one of two in Europe that crosses open ocean.
Dursey Island Cable Car
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
A slice of cake is the perfect coda to a meal at Piatto Romano.
Piatto Romano
Crunchy and supremely satisfying, suppli might be the ultimate street food snack.
Supplizio
The pedigreed pistachios here are from Bronte.
Gelateria dei Gracchi
This tiny hole-in-the-wall serves one of the world’s most magnificent sandwiches.
Er Buchetto
Seafood features prominently on the menu.
Dakar NOLA
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
View of Santa Monica Beach and Los Angeles in afternoon sun. Aerial view from above the pacific ocean water.
Why Did Celebrity Preacher Aimee Semple McPherson Mysteriously Disappear?
about 16 hours ago
The glass-ceilinged atrium of the Bradbury Building was inspired by Edward Bellamy’s utopian literature.
The Bradbury Building Featured in ‘Blade Runner’ Was Inspired by a 19th-Century Utopian Novel
1 day ago
Berza gitana is one of the exemplary dishes of Gitano cuisine.
How Gitano Cuisine Found a Home in Andalusia
2 days ago
Greenland dogs—crucial to the sledge patrol’s transport and defense—pull a patrolman’s sled.
How Greenland’s Dog-Sled Patrol Became Unsung Heroes of World War II
2 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Missouri Kansas City Union Station Lamp Post Clock

Union Station Lamp Post Clock

This recently restored timepiece has stood all around Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri

Added By
Hana Glasser
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
The lamp post at Union Station.   Katie Sgroi
The lamp post at Union Station.   Katie Sgroi
The lamp post has been here since 1936.   Katie Sgroi
The station closed to train traffic in the 1980s.   Katie Sgroi
The internal mechanism has been restored and is on display separately.   Katie Sgroi
Dusk looking South towards the Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain and the Liberty Memorial grounds   backroadsphotog / Atlas Obscura User
The lamp post clock plaque   backroadsphotog / Atlas Obscura User
Lamp Post Clock Reflected in the Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain   backroadsphotog / Atlas Obscura User
Kansas City Station   tiapatrol / Atlas Obscura User
  jobafunky / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

The tall green and gold clock perched so elegantly outside Kansas City’s Union Station landed there in its middle age.

The clock first appeared in Kansas City in the mid-1880s, where it was installed at the corner of 10th and Main. In 1918, it moved a few blocks away and was installed in front of the Mace Jewelers storefront. Finally, in 1936, it moved to its current spot in front of Union Station.

Union Station opened in 1914 and, in its early days, no one would have thought to add more bells and whistles. It had replaced a small Union Depot, and there were still so few travelers coming through Kansas City that townspeople found the new and imposing Beaux-Arts station completely ridiculous. Some even called it the “Jackson County Insane Asylum.”

But the city changed quickly. Soon, nearly 200 trains were passing through here every day and a million people passed through the station at its peak, during World War II. The clock stood steadily outside, privy to thousands of hellos and goodbyes, until the station closed in the 1980s. It's now a multipurpose development and exhibition hall, though Amtrak maintains a station for travel aboard the Missouri River Runner (St. Louis-Kansas City) and the Southwest Chief (Chicago-Los Angeles).

After more than a century outdoors, the elements took their toll on the lamppost. In 2015, the top section simply fell away from the rest of the clock body. Fortunately, in 2016, a private foundation put up $50,000 for the clock’s restoration. It was reinstalled in June of that year. The lamppost’s original internal mechanisms from the 1880s have been restored as well and are now on display separately inside Union Station’s Science City.

Related Tags

Clocks Trains Aletrail

Community Contributors

Added By

hana

Edited By

boiledgrounds, sylderon, Collector of Experiences, backroadsphotog...

  • boiledgrounds
  • sylderon
  • Collector of Experiences
  • backroadsphotog
  • tiapatrol
  • cait7911
  • jobafunky

Published

May 18, 2017

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.unionstation.org/news/generous-grant-ensures-historic-lamp-post-clock-will-once-again-welcome-union-station-guests
  • http://www.unionstation.org/news/lamp-post-clock
  • http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article86441172.html
  • http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article67871287.html
  • http://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/kansas-city-mo-kcy/
Union Station Lamp Post Clock
30 W Pershing Rd
Kansas City, Missouri
United States
39.085375, -94.586108
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Wheatley-Provident Hospital

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Kansas City Library's Community Bookshelf

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Kitty’s Cafe

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Kansas City

Kansas City

Missouri

Places 29
Stories 3

Nearby Places

Wheatley-Provident Hospital

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Kansas City Library's Community Bookshelf

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Kitty’s Cafe

Kansas City, Missouri

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Kansas City

Kansas City

Missouri

Places 29
Stories 3

Related Places

  • The Whispering Arch

    St. Louis, Missouri

    Whispering Arch at Union Station

    Speak to a companion on the other side of the room loud and clear through this architectural anomaly.

  • The orb knocks over the pegs through the course of the day.

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Foucault Pendulum at the Franklin Institute

    A daily replay of the experiment that proved the rotation of the Earth.

  • The Emerson-Bromo Tower at night, lit from within.

    Baltimore, Maryland

    Bromo-Seltzer Arts Tower

    Baltimore's classic clock tower was once topped by a rotating, 20-ton medicine bottle.

  • USNO Master Clock

    Washington, D.C.

    USNO Master Clock

    The most accurate timepiece in the world.

  • Grimy, smokey patch left behind after cleaning

    New York, New York

    Grand Central Ceiling Dark Patch

    A dark patch of the ceiling at Grand Central Terminal which was not restored is still stained brown by tobacco.

  • Barthman’s Sidewalk Clock

    New York, New York

    Barthman's Sidewalk Clock

    A clock set into the concrete outside a Manhattan jeweler has been telling time underfoot for over a century.

  • San Francisco, California

    Urbano Sundial

    A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

  • The thirteen wooden beams visible from the alley.

    Fez, Morocco

    Dar al-Magana

    The thirteen wooden beams protruding from this historical building were once part of a hydraulic clock.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.