World History

You are here: / Events / Railroad Stations / Chicago Union Station

Chicago Union Station

Memories Of Chicago’s Grand Central Station

 

Take a look at Chicago’s Grand Central Station. It was demolished shortly after it closed for a redevelopment that except for one building project, never really happened! See photos scanned from the February 2nd 1970 edition of the C&O-B&O employee newsletter “Chessie News.”

This Norman style depot is now considered Chicago’s “Penn Station” which was torn down to make way for the new Madison Square Garden. Grand Central Station was built in the 1890’s for Soo Line predecessor Wisconsin Central(no relation to the modern Wisconsin Central now Canadian National) and the Chicago St Paul & Kansas City ( Later to become the Chicago Great Western, then the Chicago & North Western and now the Union Pacific).It was home for the trains of the Chesapeake & Ohio(through the Pere Marquette Railroad) Baltimore & Ohio and the Soo Line. “Name Trains” such as the famous B&O “Capital Limited” and the C&O’s Shenandoah and Michigan based “Pere Marquettes” called Grand Central Station home. The Depot was located on the corner of Harrison & Wells and was designed by Architect Solon Spencer Beman. After it closed in 1970, the upstairs offices were still used for a short time until they too were relocated. It saw its last train on November 8th 1970. The remaining passenger trains were transferred to the newer Chicago & North Western Depot on Madison & Canal Street.

There the last C&O-B&O/ Soo Line trains departed until the National Railroad Passenger Corporation , known as AMTRAK took over on May 1st 1971. The last C&O-B&O trains left the C&NW station on April 30th 1971. Today only 3 stations are in use.
Union Station which is Amtrak’s Chicago Station. The state operated METRA commuter trains use Union Station for operations west on the old Chicago Burlington & Quincy / Burlington Northern- Burlington Northern Santa Fe “Race track” ending up at Aurora. The ex C&NW commuter trains also operate out of Union as the C&NW depot was demolished or taken out of service.

Metra uses the train shed of the long demolished LaSalle street station with commuter operations over the ex Chicago Rock Island & Pacific{ Rock Island Railroad) through Joliet and other places. Randolph street continues to be the terminal for electrified commuter operations of the ex Chicago South Shore & South Bend and Illinois Central.
The main building of Dearborn street station as far as I know is still standing. This was home for the NYC, PRR, ATSF, and others. The tracks there are gone. Central Station which was home to all Illinois Central passengers trains such as the “City of New Orleans” the “Seminal” plus Gulf Mobile & Ohio trains & others is long gone. It was also a commuter stop. It was located near as I recall, Soldier Field or McCormick Place.

Union Station is a major railroad station which opened in 1925 in Chicago, replacing an earlier 1881 station. It is now the only intercity rail terminal in Chicago, as well as being the city’s primary terminal for commuter trains. The station stands on the west side of the Chicago River between Adams Street and Jackson Street, just outside the Chicago Loop. Including approach and storage tracks, it is about nine and a half city blocks in size. Its facilities are mostly underground, buried almost entirely beneath streets and skyscrapers.

Chicago Union Station is the 3rd busiest rail terminal in the United States, handling approximately 120,000 passengers on an average weekday, and one of Chicago’s most iconic structures, reflecting the city’s strong architectural heritage and historical achievements.   Its combination of Bedford limestone Beaux-Arts facades, massive Corinthian columns, sparkling marble floors, and magnificent Great Hall, all highlighted by brass lamps, creates an environment that captures the allure and imagination of passengers and visitors that access its premises.  In addition to standing out architecturally, Union Station has features that reflect its commitment to sustainability. In 2011, its lighting system was replaced with more energy-efficient light bulbs and motion sensors, reducing the station’s carbon footprint by 4 million tons annually.

Chicago Union Station was designated as one of America’s “Great Places” by the American Planning Association (APA) in 2012. The “Great Places” program by APA highlights places streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces around America that exhibit “exemplary character, quality, and planning.”   These places are unique in their cultural and historical significance, sense of community, and vision. Other criteria include “architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement.”  Chicago Union Station is considered a “Great Public Space” by APA, which are spaces in the public realm that promotes social activity and community cohesiveness. These spaces are safe and inviting, well-maintained, and attractive, both visually and in functionality. In addition, local culture and history are reflected within the space.

Layout – Platforms and tracks

Union Station is laid out with a double stub-end configuration, with a total of 24 tracks coming in to the station from either the north or south, with most terminating within the station. There is a pass-through track to allow movement between the north and south side. Between the north and south sides of the station is a passenger concourse. Passengers can walk through the concourse to get from any platform to any other without stairs or elevators. Odd-numbered platforms (1–19) are on the north half of the station, and even-numbered platforms (2–30) on the south half. The northern platforms are used for Amtrak services to Milwaukee and Seattle; and the Metra Milwaukee District WestMilwaukee District North and North Central Service lines; the southern platforms are used for the rest of the Amtrak and Metra services. Two station management structures – known as glasshouses – one on each side of the terminal, monitor train to track assignments and the flow of traffic in and out of the station. Actual oversight and control of switching and signalling is accomplished by two “train director” positions, one for each side of the station, located in the Amtrak control center in the headhouse of the station.

Inside the concourse are ticket counters for both Metra and Amtrak services, as well as three waiting rooms and a baggage claim for Amtrak passengers, a set of restrooms, and offices for Metra and Amtrak. The concourse also has a mezzanine level between platform and street level, containing a food court featuring local vendors as well as national chains.

The Great Hall – Headhouse

Located west of Canal Street, Union Station’s headhouse occupies an entire city block. At its center is the Great Hall, a 110-foot (34 m)-high atrium capped by a large barrel-vaulted skylight. Arrayed around the Great Hall are numerous smaller spaces containing restaurants and services, and a wide passageway leading to the concourse. Above the headhouse are several floors of office space, currently used by Amtrak. Original plans called for many more floors of offices, forming a skyscraper above the Great Hall. This was never completed, although the plan has been revived in recent years.

Entrances

Numerous entrances provide access to Union Station’s underground platform level. The main entrance is on Canal Street opposite the headhouse, but passengers can also reach the platforms directly from the headhouse via an underground passageway. Two secondary entrances are located in Riverside Plaza near the Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street bridges. On Madison Street, directly across from Ogilvie Transportation Center, are a set of entrances to the north platforms.

History

The current Union Station is the second by that name built in Chicago, and possibly the third rail station to occupy the site. The need for a single, centralized station was an important political topic in 19th and 20th-century Chicago, as various competing railroads had built a series of terminal stations. The numerous stations and associated railyards and tracks surrounded the city’s central business district, the Loop, and threatened its expansion. The various stations also made travel difficult for through-travelers, many of whom had to make inconvenient, long, and unpleasant transfers from one station to another through the Loop.

On December 25, 1858 the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroadopened as far as Van Buren Street in Chicago. It built the first station at what would eventually become today’s Union Station on the west bank of the Chicago River.

Union Depot

The first Union Station

On April 7, 1874 five railroads agreed to build and share a union station just north of the original Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad station site at Van Buren Street. These railroads were:

The Michigan Central, which had previously been using the Illinois Central Railroad‘s Illinois Central Depot, soon decided to back out of the agreement, and continued to use the Illinois Central Depot. The Chicago and North Western Railway, not part of the original agreement, considered switching to the new station from its Wells Street Station but deferred instead. In 1911 it built the Chicago and North Western Passenger Terminal for its operations.

The remaining four original companies used the station when it opened in 1881. The headhouse of the Union Depot, a narrow building, fronted onto Canal Street and stretched from Madison Street to Adams Street.   Tracks led into the station from the south, and platforms occupied a strip of land between the back of the headhouse and the bank of the Chicago River. South of the station, Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren Streets rose over the tracks and the river on bridges.

Union Station

Planned appearance of the second Union Station

The 1925 dedication of the new station.

Chicago Daily News Building

Chicago Union Station in 1943 during its busiest time during World War II

Planning and construction

Growth in passenger traffic, as well as a civic push to consolidate numerous railroad terminals, led to a proposal for an enlarged Union Station on the same site. The second Union Station would be built by the Chicago Union Station Company. This was a new company formed by all the railroads that had used the first station, save for the Chicago and Alton, which became a tenant in the new station.

The architect was Daniel Burnham of Chicago, who died before its completion. The firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White completed the work to Burnham’s designs. Work began on the massive project in 1913, and the station finally opened twelve years later on May 16, 1925; some viaduct work continued into 1927. Construction was delayed several times by World War I, labor shortages and strikes. It is one of about a dozen monumental Beaux-Arts railroad stations that were among the most complicated architectural programs of the era called the “American Renaissance“, combining traditional architecture with engineering technology, circulation patterning and urban planning.

Union Station was hailed as an outstanding achievement in railroad facility planning. The station’s ornate Beaux-Arts main waiting room, the “Great Hall”, is one of the great interior public spaces in the United States. It has vaulted skylight, statuary, and connecting lobbies, staircases, and balconies. Enormous wooden benches were arranged in the room for travelers to wait for connections, and two specially-designed underground taxicab drives were built to protect travelers from the weather. The station featured a large, open concourse along the river, with massive steel arches holding up the roof, and several stairways leading passengers down to the platform.

Air rights

The large amount of land above the tracks and platforms has tempted property owners and developers. Possibly inspired by the “Terminal City” built atop New York’s Grand Central Terminal, Chicago moved to develop the air rights above Union Station’s tracks. The first building to be built was that of the Chicago Daily News in 1929. Designed in the Art Deco style, it was the first structure to add a public promenade along the river, which would be named “Riverside Plaza”. Soon after, in 1932, the new Chicago Main Post Office opened. Also in the Art Deco style, it was a gigantic structure that occupied two full city blocks.

The Great Depression and subsequent World War II halted development, but in the 1960s, work began on Gateway Center, a Modernist complex of five buildings. Only the first four were built, and construction lasted into the 1980s through several economic cycles.

Most recently, in 1990 the Morton International Building opened. Now named for Boeing, it is the tallest building yet to be constructed over the tracks. It received awards for its innovative engineering.   Several sites remain above the tracks to be developed.

Wartime, decline, and resurgence

During World War II, Union Station was at its busiest, handling as many as 300 trains and 100,000 passengers daily, many of them soldiers. After the war, however, traffic both at Union Station and on the American passenger rail system declined severely with the growth of highway construction and private ownership of automobiles. In 1969 the expansive Beaux-Arts concourse at Union Station was demolished to make way for a modern office tower. A new, modernized (but smaller) concourse was constructed beneath the tower.

In 1991, this concourse was renovated by Lucien Lagrange Associates. Included was a renovation of the Great Hall, and the restoration of the skylight, which had been blacked-out during the war and not restored. Restoration of Union Station continues. Numerous spaces within the station have yet to be renovated, and many sit unused, especially within the headhouse.

Due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks, the pair of taxicab drives was closed by Amtrak. Passenger traffic has increased and is exceeding the capacity allowed by the 1991 renovation.   Numerous improvements have been planned to accommodate the expected growth in passengers from the planned high-speed trains of the proposed Chicago Hub Network.

In 2010, Amtrak (the current owners of the Chicago Union Station Company) announced that the Great Hall would become air-conditioned for the first time.   That year a Chicago Tribune investigation revealed high levels of diesel soot on the underground platforms of Union Station.   Metra established an “Emissions Task Force” to study this problem and recommend solutions to improve air quality in the underground areas.

Union Station remains a busy place: as of 2007, approximately 54,000 people use the station on a daily basis, including 6,000 Amtrak passengers.   Union Station currently serves all Amtrak intercity trains to Chicago, as well as Metra commuter rail lines – the North Central ServiceMilwaukee District/North LineMilwaukee District/West LineBNSF Railway LineHeritage Corridorand SouthWest Service.

Historical services

Prior to Penn Central and Amtrak‘s consolidation of downtown terminals, Union Station was already served by lines in all directions.

Union Station served as a terminal for the following lines and intercity trains:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Union_Station

PureHistory.org ℗ is your source to learn about the broad and beautiful spectrum of our shared History.