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Dearborn Station

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Dearborn Station
headhouse (2006)
LocationChicago, Illinois
Built1883
ArchitectCyrus L. W. Eidlitz
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.76000688 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 26, 1976
Designated CLMarch 2, 1982[2]
All lines operating into Dearborn Station, except for the Santa Fe, travelled over the C&WI's

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.

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.

Services

Dearborn Station served as terminal for the following railroads, with some of the more well-known name trains listed:

The following commuter rail services also operated from the station:

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

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
  2. ^ "Chicago Landmarks - Dearborn Street Station". 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  3. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, September 1904, p. 707
  4. ^ 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
Sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dearborn Station (Chicago).


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