Dearborn Station - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 52.338 W 087° 37.740
16T E 447803 N 4635789
This Romanesque Revival-style station symbolized the burgeoning railroad industry in America and Chicago's role as the hub of that industry. Also known as Polk Street Station.
Waymark Code: WM4HPR
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/27/2008
Views: 75
From Jazz Age Chicago (
visit link)
Opened for business in 1885, the Dearborn Street Station served as the primary departure point for long-distance passenger trains to Southern California and the Southwest. Its most notable railroad tenant, the Santa Fe Railway, operated several daily trains between Chicago and Los Angeles. Trains such as the Super Chief and the El Capitan were highly regarded among travellers, including many celebrities who regularly rode the Santa Fe between Chicago and Hollywood. Not suprisingly then, celebrity sightings were an almost daily occurance at the station during the '20s, '30s, and '40s.
The station itself was an impressive sight. Its twelve-story, Romanesque clock tower dramatically set off the southern vista of Dearborn Street and could be seen many blocks away. The building's exterior walls, comprised of pink granite and red pressed brick lent the structure a sturdy, functional appearance--much in contrast to the monumentality of Union Station or North Western Station, built at a time when the nation's railroads sought to confirm their economic might through neo-classical station designs.
During the 1980s, the station was converted to retail and office space. The train shed was demolished in 1976, five years after all Dearborn Street passenger service was rerouted to Union Station. The rail yards have also been dismantled, replaced by apartments and townhomes.
Dearborn Station served as the Chicago passenger terminal for several railroads besides the Santa Fe. These included the Erie Railroad, with service to New York City, and the Monon Route, with trains to Indianapolis and Louisville. Toronto-bound travellers departed Dearborn Station aboard the Grand Trunk Railroad, Alabamans aboard the Chicago and Eastern Illinois, and Saint Louisans aboard the Wabash Railroad.