In May 1986, the voters of the surrounding county approved $33 million in funding to transform the building into museum space.

[7][6] Talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer was one of the major proponents of saving the building and transforming it into a museum.

The entrance to the train concourse was renovated into the Omnimax theater, and the men's lounge became Amtrak's waiting room and ticket counter.

The UTA joined the Historical Society and Museum of Natural History in creating the Heritage Center at Union Terminal.

[10] The first exhibit shown in the terminal was U.S.S.R.: Individual, Family, Society in February 1988, in a cultural agreement between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

[15] In January 2019, the terminal gained another museum as a tenant, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center, in the former space of the History Library.

[16] One of the museum center's largest events is its annual 1940s Day, a celebration of the decade, every year on the second weekend in August.

The event includes a classic car show, swing dancing, big band music, and a vintage costume contest.

It celebrates the 1940s, which was the peak passenger traffic period for Union Terminal, especially during World War II.

[18] Presidential nominee and former vice president Joe Biden gave a speech at the terminal in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The primary instrument was the Skinner Opus 660, which was installed at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in East Germantown, a neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The other portion is an antiphonal division, originally a smaller organ (Skinner Opus 726) in Powel Crosley Jr.'s Cincinnati residence, Pinecroft.