All lines operating into Dearborn Station, except for the Santa Fe, travelled over the C&WI's
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Dearborn Station was the oldest of the six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago during the heyday of rail in the twentieth century. Additionally, the station was used as a terminal for commuter traffic. Located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, it was also referred to as Polk Street Station. The station was owned by the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, which itself was owned by the companies operating over its line.
[edit] Description and history
The station prior to 1922
The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened on May 8, 1885. 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. Inside the station were ticket counters, waiting rooms, and one of the legendary Fred Harvey Company restaurants.
The station was closed on May 2, 1971, as the first step of Amtrak's consolidation of Chicago's remaining intercity train operations at Union Station. By 1976, Dearborn Station's trainshed was demolished and tracks were removed. However, the headhouse building escaped the fate of several other Chicago stations like Central Station and Grand Central Station, which were both demolished. The train station stood abandoned into the mid-1980s when it was converted to retail and office space. The former rail yards provided the land that is now known as Dearborn Park.
[edit] Services
Dearborn Station served as terminal for the following railroads, with some of the more well-known name trains listed:
- Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway — the Chief, Super Chief, El Capitan, and Grand Canyon Limited (to name but a few) to Los Angeles; the Texas Chief to Dallas; the Antelope to Oklahoma City; the Kansas Cityan (and its eastbound counterpart, the Chicagoan) to Kansas City and The San Francisco Chief to San Francisco 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 Grand Central Station February 28, 1925).
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad — Zipper and Silent Knight to St. Louis; Dixie Flyer to Evansville. From July 31, 1904[3] to August 1, 1913,[4] Chicago & Eastern Illinois trains used LaSalle Street Station.
- Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway (Monon) — Hoosier and Tippecanoe to Indianapolis.
- Erie Railroad (Erie Lackawanna Railway from 1960) — Erie Limited and Atlantic Express to New York City.
- Grand Trunk Western Railroad — Maple Leaf, Inter-city Limited and International Limited to Toronto and Montreal. Mohawk to Detroit.
- Wabash Railroad (Norfolk and Western Railway from 1964) — Blue Bird and Banner Blue to St. Louis.
The following commuter rail services also operated from the station:
[edit] In popular culture
Dearborn Station is repeatedly mentioned in the 1974 "Adam's Ribs" episode of M*A*S*H, in which Hawkeye Pierce raves about the barbecued ribs at a fictional restaurant located across the street from the station, and calls the stationmaster from South Korea to get the restaurant's phone number.
The station's train shed being demolished in May 1976; the "head house" can be seen at the rear
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Notes
- Sources
[edit] External links
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