Dearborn Station
Chicago Dearborn Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 47 West Polk Street Chicago, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 41°52′19.78″N 87°37′45″W / 41.8721611°N 87.62917°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | May 8, 1885 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | April 30, 1971 (long-distance service) 1976 (Orland Park Cannonball) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dearborn Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chicago Landmark | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1883 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architect | Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architectural style | Romanesque Revival | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 76000688[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Significant dates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | March 26, 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Designated CL | March 2, 1982[2] |
Dearborn Station (also called, Polk Street Depot) was, beginning in the late 1800s, one of six
Description and history
The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened in 1885 at a cost of $400 to $500 thousand (equivalent to $13.6 to $17 million in 2024). The three-story building's exterior walls and twelve-story clock tower were composed of pink granite and red pressed brick topped by a number of steeply-pitched roofs. Modifications to the structure following a fire in 1922 included eliminating the original pitched roof profile. Behind the head house were the train platforms, shielded by a large train shed.[3] Inside the station were ticket counters, waiting rooms, and Fred Harvey Company restaurants.[4]
By 1976, Dearborn Station's train shed was demolished and tracks were removed; the head house building was retained. The train station stood abandoned into the mid-1980s when it was converted to retail and office space. The former rail yards were converted for use as Dearborn Park.
Services
Some of the railroads that served the station include the following, with some of the more well-known name trains listed:
- , California. Although the Santa Fe by far operated the greatest number of trains from the station, it was only a tenant.
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (moved to the Grand Central Station February 28, 1925).
- St. Louis, Missouri; Dixie Flyer, and Dixie Flagler and Georgian to Evansville, continuing to Nashville, Tennessee, then Atlanta, Georgia, and finally Miami, Florida (The Georgian ending at Atlanta). From July 31, 1904[5] to August 1, 1913,[6] Chicago & Eastern Illinois trains used LaSalle Street Station.
- Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway (Monon) – Hoosier and Tippecanoe to Indianapolis, Indiana, Thoroughbred to Louisville, Kentucky.
- Jersey City, New Jersey.
- .
- Wabash Railroad (Norfolk and Western Railway from 1964) – Blue Bird and Banner Blue to St. Louis, Missouri.
The following commuter rail services also operated from the station:
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (until 1935) – operated from Dearborn Station to Crete, Illinois. Metra has proposed to revive the route as its SouthEast Service.
- Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (until 1964) – operated between Dearborn Station and Dolton, Illinois serving mostly local stops within Chicago's far south side.
- Grand Trunk Western Railroad (until 1935) – operated from Dearborn Station to Valparaiso, Indiana (later service was cut-back to Harvey, Illinois).
- Wabash Railroad (Norfolk and Western Railway from 1964) – used a track west of the station until 1976, when moved to the Union Station); now Metra's SouthWest Service.
- Santa Fe Railway (until 1903) – operated from Dearborn Station to Joliet, Illinois.
In popular culture
In
Dearborn Station is mentioned multiple times in the 1974 "
"Dearborn Station" is a song by the rock band Fortune that was released in 1985.[8]
Photo Gallery
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The north (frontal) and west side
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The east side
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The south (rear) side
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Inside the building
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The station's train shed being demolished in May 1976; the "head house" can be seen at the rear
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A city park, Dearborn Park, and townhouses now occupy the former platform and trackage area
See also
- Architecture of Chicago
- Printer's Row, Chicago
- South Loop
- Chicago Union Station
- Central Station (Chicago terminal)
- Great Central Station
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
- ^ "Chicago Landmarks - Dearborn Street Station". 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 22 Feb 2010.
- ^ OCLC 45908903.
- OCLC 27091379. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.
- ^ "Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad". Official Guide of the Railways. New York City, New York: National Railway Publication Company. Jan 1904. p. 700. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015 – via books.google.com.
- ^ Goss, William Freeman Myrick, Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals in Chicago. Report of the Chicago Association of Commerce, Committee of Investigation on Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals, Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry, 1915, p. 505
- ^ "Suburban Time Table". Chicago and Erie Railroad. 16 Sep 1900. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.
- ^ "Fortune - Fortune [1985] lyrics". thelyricarchive.com. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.