Named for Martin Luther King Jr., the building was designed in Streamline Moderne style by Robert Crosbie.

A union terminal, built in 1886 in the Gothic style, served several of the major rail lines passing through Toledo.

[5] It was the $5 million crown jewel of the railroad's post-war investment in Toledo, a project that also built eight other buildings and, with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, replaced a coal-loading facility in East Toledo with a larger $18.5 million one in Maumee Bay.

The passenger terminal and concourse were on the third floor, while the NYC Toledo division and dispatching offices were on the fourth.

In the early 1990s, local leaders decided against moving Amtrak into smaller, less costly quarters as had been done in many other cities during the 1970s and 80s.

Before Amtrak stopped carrying mail in 2005, it stored material handling cars (MHCs) at the plaza on several unused platform tracks.

Toledo has the distinction of hosting the first National Train Day every year, a week before the event is held in other cities nationwide.

The plaza is also served by Greyhound routes connecting to Chicago; Cleveland; Charleston, West Virginia; Detroit; New York City; and Washington, D.C.