Dearborn Station

This article is about the former train station in Chicago, Illinois. For the transit center in Dearborn, Michigan, see John D. Dingell Transit Center.
Dearborn Station

Dearborn Station head house, 2006
Location 47 West Polk Street
Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°52′19.78″N 87°37′41.89″W / 41.8721611°N 87.6283028°W / 41.8721611; -87.6283028Coordinates: 41°52′19.78″N 87°37′41.89″W / 41.8721611°N 87.6283028°W / 41.8721611; -87.6283028
Built 1883 (1883)
Architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz
Architectural style Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference # 76000688[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP March 26, 1976 (1976-03-26)
Designated CL March 2, 1982[2]
All lines operating into Dearborn Station, except for the Santa Fe, travelled over the C&WI's

Dearborn Station (also referred to as Polk Street Station) was the oldest of the six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It currently serves as office and retail space. Located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, the station was owned by the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, which itself was owned by the companies operating over its line.

Description and history

Postcard of Dearborn Station as it appeared ca. 1907.

The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened May 8, 1885 at a cost of $400 to $500 thousand (equivalent to $10.6 to $13.2 million in 2016).[3] 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.[4] Inside the station were ticket counters, waiting rooms, and Fred Harvey Company restaurants.[5][3]

Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) chose to consolidate its Chicago operations at the Union Station. The final intercity passenger train to depart Dearborn Station was the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's International Limited, which departed on April 30, 1971. The arrival of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's San Francisco Chief and Grand Canyon from California on May 2 brought intercity operations at Dearborn to a close. The Norfolk & Western Railway's Orland Park commuter service, the Orland Park Cannonball, continued to use a platform at Dearborn until 1976.[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.[3] The former rail yards were converted for use as Dearborn Park.

Services

As of 1920 the Dearborn Station served as a terminal for 25 railroads, serving 17,000 passengers daily on 122 trains.[3] Some of the railroad that served the station include the following, with some of the more well-known name trains listed:

The following commuter rail services also operated from the station:

The station's train shed being demolished in May 1976; the "head house" can be seen at the rear

In blues musician Henry Thomas' 1927 song "Railroadin' Some", the "Polk Street Depot" is the next to last stop on a journey that begins in Fort Worth, Texas, and ends in Chicago.

Dearborn Station is mentioned multiple times in the 1974 "Adam's Ribs" episode of M*A*S*H, in which Hawkeye Pierce craves the barbecued ribs from a fictional restaurant adjacent to the station, but can't recall the name. He calls the station master from South Korea to get the restaurant's name and phone number.

"Dearborn Station" is a song by the rock band Fortune that was released in 1985.[9]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2006-03-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "Chicago Landmarks - Dearborn Street Station". 2010. Retrieved 22 Feb 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cameo, Valerie Felice. "The Dearborn Station: Historic Elegance". dearbornstation.com. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.
  4. 1 2 Holland, Kevin J. (2001). Classic American Railroad Terminals. Osceola, WI: MBI. pp. 70–71. ISBN 9780760308325. OCLC 45908903.
  5. ↑ Foster, George H.; Weiglin, Peter C. (1992). The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining Along the Santa Fe Railroad. Atlanta, Georgia: Longstreet Press. p. 150. ISBN 1563520338. OCLC 27091379. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ 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
  8. ↑ "Suburban Time Table". Chicago and Erie Railroad. 16 Sep 1900. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.
  9. ↑ "Fortune - Fortune [1985] lyrics". thelyricarchive.com. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dearborn Station (Chicago).


  Former Services  
Preceding station   Erie Railroad   Following station
Main LineTerminus
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe
toward Los Angeles
Main LineTerminus
toward Los Angeles
Main Line
Major stations


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