daniel burnham selected this site for a new railroad station . and there were a couple of things needed to accomplish. first, he had to get the owners of the railroads to agree to combine and work out of one station. no small feat. and then of course, there were facilities already here. there were townhouses. this was a thriving blue-collar community with saloons, taverns stores and a baseball field. ,those things also needed to be relocated to fortunately, he was owners ofnvince the the railroads to combine and form a union station. there are many union stations throughout the country and it means the union of two or more railroads agreeing to operate out of a single building. this location a few blocks away from the u.s. capitol building is a great spot and one of the other reasons it worked so well is because it was north of the capital building. all of the train, the tracks and the lines coming in could and end here before going underground. it allowed the whole area to rid this part of the city of much of the infrastructure like the tracks t

daniel burnham made it clear that he wanted something monumental. washington, dake c a city like paris and wanted to make the station the most magnificent in the country and used the phrase "monumental" when talking about this plan. the ceilings are 96 the high and they are beautiful. although a floor, restoration, does replicate the floor that was here. when people walk into this building, they are taken aback by the space and the beauty by the gold leaf in the city and the goal was truly achieved in terms of having a magnificent building that would make people who walked into the building and gaze at the beauty of this magnificent structure. this hall looks very much like it looked over 100 years ago. there were a few significant differences -- there were a large number of mahogany benches here in the main hall. -- if you came to pick up a train, this is where you would sit and wait for your train. there were news stands and coffee shops. we had the men's lounge and a barbershop. they could get their boots cleaned and there was a smoking room. of

i think daniel burnham and others who built the station over 100 years ago would be very proud of what we have been able to preserve here. you can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting her website, www.c-span.org/history. >> this weekend on american history tv, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, providence college professor jeffrey johnson on the 1916 in san francisco, the worst act of terrorism in san francisco history. >> what happened about half an hour into the break, the local press would deem one of the most pathetic results of the explosion. at 10:00 on railamerica, 1915 film on the firing line of the germans. >> you see his loading film in his camera. i think that is what he is doing. watch the guy. he just got hit. >> sunday, american artifacts, we visit the portrait gallery of the second bank of united states in philadelphia. >> inside we have the fine arts exhibit where we include portraits from the early 19th century to tell the story of what it was like to live in early 18th century america, the world as people knew. >> at 8:00 on t

daniel burnham and others who built the station over 100 years ago would be very proud of what we have been able to preserve your. you can watch this and other american artifacts program by which -- by visiting our website. >> this year, c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. next, a look at a recent visit to chico, california. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> the chinese were here at such a valuable time. sort of helping to build the foundation of what chico is today. standing in front of an altar of a chinese temple housed here at chico museum. they started here as early as 1840. this was part of a movement happening across the united states. they were looking for more opportunities and a lot of them came here. for byassage was paid other chinese merchants and in coming here, they had to work to pay back that expense. the working in andculture and factories working in major houses and when's and the transcontinental railroad. onward, thered were primarily male workers and there was a lot of friction betwe

i think daniel burnham and others who built the station over 100 years ago would be very proud of what we have been able to preserve here. >> you can watch this and other "american artifacts" programs by visiting our website. >> this year, c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. next, a look at our recent visit to chico, california. prof. dizard: we're standing at a place that holds profound significance for the indigenous people here in this part of what we now call butte county. these people regard this very place as the particular location where in their cosmology the creator had humans emerge into the world. it is also alumni glenn. as far as the california state university of chico. with the discovery of gold not too far south of here and the inability to keep that discovery secret, the news quickly spread. and the ratio of settlers to native people began to radically shift. prior to the gold rush, there would have been somewhere on the order of maybe under 5000 settlers in all of california. by 1855, that would have skyrocketed to above 50,000 sett