Chicago's Great Railroad Terminals - Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts about the great railroad terminals that defined rail travel in the city.  I will cover the topic by owner railroad, or multiple railroads.  In some cases, as with our first subject the Chicago & North Western Railroad, they built a progression of stations as their business's grew.

The business of railroading was intertwined with the provincial, municipal politics of Chicago.  The necessary permission required to route tracks or build stations wrested with the City Council.  In the case of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, C&NW’s predecessor, they met with determined opposition from the city’s merchants who saw no value in the idea of a railroad.  Farmers were bringing their wagon loads of goods to the city via a number of plank roads.  While in Chicago they spent money.  Allowing them the luxury of shipping the goods, without the necessity of traveling with them, was not viewed favorably by those who profited from this arrangement.  Of course, these interests brought pressure to bear on the Council to block the railroad from building a depot with an ordinance.

Chicago's first railroad station.  A historic plaque once marked this location.

When it became apparent that the farmer investors of the G&CU were creating carloads of wheat for shipment to the city, the resistance crumbled and the ordinance was lifted.  In the fall of 1848 the first train station in Chicago was built at the foot of Canal Street near Kinzie.  This rather humble structure included railroad offices topped by a cupola for the purpose of watching for incoming trains.  The low roofed structure behind the depot was a freight transfer facility.  The station’s location was far outside of the business district and further isolated by the Chicago River.  To overcome this problem the C&CU needed to bridge the river, which they did by constructing a pontoon swing bridge over the North branch of the Chicago River in 1852.  This allowed for the construction of a second station at the Wells Street in 1853.

Chicago, St. Paul & Fon du Lac Kinzie Street Station.

The G&CU was one-half of what would become the C&NW, the second component was the Chicago, St. Paul and Fon du Lac Railroad, which built its own station on Kinzie Street in 1856.  The station would serve the railroad until it’s consolidation with the G&CU in 1864.  The building was eventually moved, and survived as a warehouse well into the 20th century.

 

The North Western's first Wells Street Station (l) later expanded (r).

The new Wells Street Station was more substantial than its wooden predecessor, which was converted into an employee reading room.  Built of brick and stone it was later expanded with the addition of a third story.  The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 burned both the Wells and Kinzie Street buildings.  Planning began for a more substantial replacement to accommodate the railroad’s growing passenger and commuter business.

Second Wells Street Station.  Image on right shows station annex for commuter traffic.

The new terminal, designed by architect W.W. Boyington (most noted for his iconic Chicago Water Tower) opened in 1881.  This Gothic pile of red brick was a more fitting symbol of the growing power of the railroad.  Its style points to a problem architects began to confront.  What should a train station look like?  Aside from housing the functions of the passenger business and the needs of those patrons, what architectural style was best suited for this new type of structure.  Depending on the date of construction, Chicago’s stations would follow the popular styles of the era they were built.

The Wells Street Station was demolished and replaced by the Merchandise Mart.

The Wells Street Station lived a brief life of a little over 20 years.  A number of problems arose with the site.  The C&NW had extensive land holdings along the river and had built an expansive freight business that was now mingled with the passenger and commuter trains.  The explosive growth of the commuter service required an annex be added to the original station, but it too proved inadequate to handle the business.  The third problem was the access to the station via a single bridge over the Chicago River.  The original pontoon bridge had three separate replacements, but the amount of river traffic presented a major problem.  The bridge was open frequently, ships having priority of passage, creating havoc with train schedules.  Railroad President Marvin Hughitt decided upon a bold plan that would completely reconfigure the C&NW’s Chicago Terminal operations.  That plan included the construction of a new, state-of-the-art station located at Madison and Canal Streets.  The result would be an engineering marvel of efficiency.

Panoramic photograph and postcard view of the new Madison Street Station.

Hughitt called upon the architectural firm of Frost and Granger for the design of the new station.  Charles Sumner Frost and Alfred Hoyt Granger were well known to Hughitt; they were his son-in-laws.   Over time the partnership designed over 127 buildings for the C&NW, and the firm was noted for its stations for various railroads.  Construction began in 1909 and was completed in 1911.  In accordance with Chicago’s track elevation ordinances, the approach tracks and platforms were above street level.  The station complex itself, including the massive power house covered 4 square city blocks.  The architects chose a classical Roman style, much along the lines of the buildings popularized by the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

 Postcard views of the interior of the Madison Street Station.

Areas under the tracks were devoted to baggage and mail handling.  The station itself contained a massive, vaulted waiting room covered with Guasatvino tiling.  Suburban commuters could leave without entering the station proper via two separate concourses.  Numerous amenities were included for those passengers using the North Western’s long distance trains.

Upper and lower level layouts of the station.

The station was designed to handle a volume of traffic that never really developed.  With the assumption of long distance passenger service by Amtrak, the station became a commuter only operation.  The grand staircase was covered over with a coffee shop, and the lower level converted to railroad office space.  As the Loop business district expanded west of the river, the North Western saw an opportunity to cash in on their property and sell the main station to developers.  Plans were announced to demolish the station and replace it with an office tower including a new station.  After a spirited battle by a small group of preservationists, the Chicago Landmarks Commission declined to recommend the building for landmark status.  It was demolished in 1984.

The station being demolished.  Photograph by Doug Davidson.

The new building, designed by Helmut Jahn, was completed in 1987.  The station was renamed the Ogilvie Transportation Center, and contains the original clock from the 1911 station’s concourse.

 

The Citicorp Building and Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Photo credits: top left, Mark2400; top right, Clark Maxwell; bottom, neverphoto.com

The trains sheds that covered the tracks were removed because of structural deficiencies and replaced by Metra, the commuter rail agency.  Commuter service is now operated by the Union Pacific Railroad under contract with Metra.

Left, Suburban Concourse; right, new train sheds.

Metra also redeveloped the ground level Suburban Concourse into the ‘Metra Market’ of shops and a French themed grocery store.  The power house, along with the platform curtain walls, are the last standing remnants of the station. The Power House was ironically designated a city landmark in 2006, and has been converted to house various businesses.

 The platform curtain walls were retained.  This period photograph shows the Washington Street underpass.

 Station powerhouse.

Take The Train to the Fair

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the city's great coming out celebration.  The city's prideful boasts earned it the enmity of the New York City press, and the eternal sobriquet as "The Windy City" for the hot air generated by the city's boosters.  Much of the historical discussion of the Fair revolves around it's architecture (for better or worse), the tawdry side show of the Midway, the social implications of the treatment of women and minorities, and even a serial killer who haunted the neighborhoods near the Fair.  Little has been written about the role of railroads and the movement of vast crowds who traveled both short and long distances to the event.

Panormaic view of the Fair showing the station tracks and platforms.

Over the one year lifetime of the fair 27.5 million people visited, many arriving by rail from distant parts of the nation.  In our age of automobiles it is not difficult to imagine the vast amount of surface parking that would be required to handle the daily flux of fair goers.  Moving people to and from the fair took place with four forms of rail transportation: steam railroads, steam powered elevated trains, cable cars and electric trolley service.  A grand station was built on the southwest edge of the fairgrounds to handle the passengers traveling by railroad.  Numerous platforms led to the classically styled station "headhouse". At the headhouse visitors could make a connection to the electrically powered Intramural Railroad that traveled the length of the fairgrounds.

Fair passengers loading at the IC Van Buren Station in downtown Chicago.

The steam railroad most involved in the day-to-day shuttling of passengers was the Illinois Central (IC).  From a number of stations in downtown, passengers could board specially built "all door" passenger cars for the trip to the fairgrounds.  The cars were derisively known as "cattle cars" for their crude accommodations.  The ever resourceful IC had designed them for eventual conversion to freight cars after the fair, lending some credence to their nickname.  On October 8, 1893 the railroad hauled a total of 541,312 commuters and fair goers, setting an unsurpassed record for a single day.

Locomotive 201, operated by Casey Jones and preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum

                                                                                                  Photograph by David Fullarton

The cars were pulled by diminutive suburban locomotives designed to operate without the necessity of turning the locomotive for the boiler to face forward for the return trip.  The IC gathered engineers from around the system to meet the demand for frequent trains, including one John Luther "Casey" Jones whose death in a wreck years later would propel him into folklore legend.  In preparation for the fair the IC had also elevated a portion of it's track above street level, adding new express tracks to handle the volume of trains.  A branch from the main track at 71st Street would lead to the Fair's station.  A direct connection was also provided by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  Other railroads would run special "Exposition Flyers" express trains to the city.

South Side Elevated train.

Cable cars were put to the test on the Fair's busiest day.

 The Calumet Electric Street Railway operated streetcars before the City of Chicago.

The South Side Elevated train, also known as the "Alley El", was completed in 1892 and then extended to the fairgrounds in Jackson Park.  Their terminal station was situated between the railroad station and the Transportation Exhibits Building.  It too connected with the Intramural train.  Much like the IC, the elevated trains were pulled by diminutive steam locomotives known by the last name of their inventor Mathias Forney.  Chicago's cable car system, which predated electric streetcars, ran to the Fair as well.  Finally the electric streetcars of the recently completed Calumet Electric Railway connected residents from suburbs and towns to the south of the city with the Jackson park site.  The Fair was well-served by the various forms of rail transportation.

Intramural Railroad train passing the windmill exhibit.

Within the Fair itself the electrically powered Intramural Railway, which shuttled passengers between the various exhibition halls, was a harbinger of the future of urban public transportation.  Operating on elevated tracks throughout the fairgrounds it presaged the eventual electrification of mass transit systems like the South Side Elevated.

 

Front elevation of the station.

Station waiting room.

The clocks surrounding the waiting room displayed times from around the world.

The Fair station would probably be ranked as the largest and busiest railroad station in Chicago based on the number of platforms and the volume of traffic handled daily.  It's classical styling would portend the architecture of many stations built following the Fair.

Transportation Exhibition Building

It sat in juxtaposition to it's neighbor, the Transportation Exhibition Building designed by Louis Sullivan.  In contrast to the station's design that kept with the classical theme of the Fair's architecture, Sullivan's building was a riot of color and ornament.  Prior to the Fair Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Adler had designed two stations for the IC, a commuter station at 39th Street in Chicago and the main passenger terminal in New Orleans.  Sullivan's brother Albert worked for the IC and was probably responsible for those commissions to the firm.

Built as temporary structures, many of the Fair's buildings succumbed to a series of spectacular fires that laid waste to the abandoned Fair site after it's closure.  The Fair did more than represent a fantasy city of the future, a dreamland of canals flanked by ornate buildings designed to awe and amaze.  It showed the possibilities of coordinated mass transportation and it's ability to move people with great efficiency.

STRIKE!

Chicago's ascendancy to the nexus of the nation's rail network also brought about the creation of numerous industries that came to supply the railroads.  The greatest of these was the Pullman Palace Car Company started by George Pullman in 1858.  Pullman's business grew, and by 1879 he decided to build a self-contained factory community far beyond the limits of the city.  Pullman's idea was to create what he considered a 'workers paradise' free of the distractions and vices that might impede worker productivity.  His shrewd business plan was to not only control the complete production process, but to also control the lives of the people who built his cars as well as the families they supported.  In 1883 one Pullman worker famously opined, "We are born in a Pullman house. We are fed from a Pullman shop, taught in a Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman church and when we die we shall be buried in a Pullman cemetery and go to a Pullman hell."

Workers rental homes

1893 was an auspicious year in Chicago's history.  The World's Columbian Exposition had drawn millions of visitors to the 'White City' on the south lakefront.  The fair announced to the nation and the world that Chicago was a city to be reckoned with, risen from the ashes of the Great Fire flexing it's industrial and cultural might for all to see.  But 1893 was also the beginning of an economic depression that would put a damper on the city's great coming out party.  By 1894 the downturn had a deleterious affect on Pullman's business, and he cut his workforce by three quarters.  This had an unintended affect on his bottom line, as well as his paternalistic vision of the Town of Pullman.  To rectify the situation Pullman began to produce new cars at a loss, allowing him to hire back 68% of his workforce.  He also cut the rate of pay by 28% and refused to lower the rents of his worker's homes, expecting to maintain his return on investment.  He made no mention to his workforce that he was operating the business at a loss.

 A labor publication's cartoon portrayal of Pullman

Negative newspaper accounts began to be printed detailing starvation and privation in the 'workers paradise'.  Pullman was unswayed by the negative publicity.  To his mind owning the factory and the town gave him the inalienable right to operate his business without outside interference.  Pullman had weathered an earlier labor dispute in 1886 that led to a short, unsuccessful strike.  On May 4th, 1894 a commitee of workers met with the company's Vice President to request a restoration of wages or a reduction in rents, along with an end to managerial harassment.  Their pleas fell on deaf ears.  Three day later three members of the negotiating committee were fired without explanation.  The stage was now set for the Pullman strike.

Eugene V. Debs

About one third of the Pullman workers had joined the nascent American Railway Union (ARU) led by the charismatic Eugene V. Debs.  At the June ARU convention in Chicago the Pullman members asked for support from the union by declaring a sympathy boycott of all trains carrying Pullman cars.  Debs was cautious about the effects of the boycott on the newly formed union, but in the face of Pullman intransigence the delegates were left with no option but to vote for a boycott.  The battle lines were drawn between the union and Pullman, who was supported by the General Managers Association (GMA) of the various railroads affected.  The ARU was a dangerous adversary to the power of the railroads, and allowing them a victory was anathema to the GMA.  Significantly, the ARU did not receive support from other railroad brotherhoods and the American Federation of Labor (AFL), led by the powerful Samuel Gompers.  Despite these obstacles, the ARU was able to effectively shut down rail traffic in 27 states west of Chicago.

Army encampment in Lake Front Park

In the beginning the strikers had the support of the citizenry as well as numerous civic and political leaders.  The dispute began peacefully, but quickly devolved into a unprecedented spasm of violence and destruction.  The first sign of trouble took place in Blue Island, south of the city.  This was all the provocation necessary for the GMA to call upon the Federal government to step into the dispute.  On July 4th President Grover Cleveland ordered 10,000 troops sent from Fort Sheridan, a military camp north of the city established after the violence of the Haymarket Riots in 1886.  Concurrently, the US Attorney General applied to the courts for an injunction against the strikers for violating provisions of the Sherman Anti-trust Act governing interstate commerce.  The presence of armed federal troops, police and Pinkerton detectives coupled with the action of the courts only inflamed the increasingly tense situation.
 

Panhandle (Pennsylvania) Railroad Yards set ablaze

Cartoon portraying Debs as an obstruction to commerce.

Rail yards, filled with wooden railroad cars typical of the era, were set aflame by working class sympathizers of the strikers.  Trains were blocked, crews pulled from locomotives.  Soldiers clashed with protesters and shots rang out.  The Illinois militia was sent to intervene between the Chicago's working class citizens and the Federals.  Force was employed to bring trains through blockades, and in the end 13 were killed and 53 seriously wounded.  Public opinion, inflamed by lurid press accounts of the violence, turned against the boycott.  Debbs attempted to end the boycott early by asking for a return to arbitration, but the Pullman Company now had the upper hand and he was rebuffed.  Chicago trade unionists called for a general boycott, but a quickly called meeting of the AFL leadership counseled against such a move.  Debs and the ARU leaders were arrested for defying the injunction.  The strike lingered to September when the last 2000 strikers unconditionally gave up their cause.

Federal troops fire on strikers and sympathizers

Troops and Pinkerton guards strike a pose

Workers were rehired on the condition they renounce the union.  The strike leaders were blacklisted.  George Pullman, who had escaped the city during the turmoil, had won.  But is was a pyrrhic victory.  A subsequent federal investigation into the strike placed much of the blame squarely on the Pullman Company and it's unwillingness to negotiate fairly with it's workers.  A year after Pullman's death in 1897, the company would be forced to divest itself of all property not used for industry.  The Town of Pullman would later be annexed and become part of the City of Chicago.  The industrial labor movement was discredited and badly damaged by the strike and boycott.  Decades would pass before it would recover and reassert itself.

Fairgrounds reduced to cinders

In a moment of supreme irony, a number of fires destroyed the now abandoned buildings of the Great White City of the Columbian Exposition within 9 months of it's closing.  The burnt site now seemed to epitomize the end of so many grand visions for the city and the harsh reality of the deep class divisions within American society.

Making the Grade

A canvas for street artists and taggers.

In a city crisscrossed with railroad tracks, the railroad embankment is a ubiquitous feature of numerous Chicago neighborhoods.  How these geographic features came into existence is a story of public outrage and political bullying.

The web of rails to the city.

By the late 1800's no fewer than 25 railroads had gained access to the city, although many shared rights-of-way through trackage agreements.  The process of reaching the city was fraught with political intrigue and corporate conflict.  Preferred routes were gained by the early players in the railroad market.  They used their political influence to block competitors from entering the city.  Property owners stood as a major impediment, either blocking the railroads or asking extravagant prices for their property rights.  Some late arrivals to the city often resorted to convoluted routes that would get them to the point they could connect with an already established rail corridor.

As the eastern railroads pushed to connect with Chicago, the South side in particular became a tangle of tracks and junctions.  As the city expanded these tracks were crossed by new streets and roads, creating a major conflict between vehicles, pedestrians and trains.  The conflict resulted in carnage.  Carnage resulted in public outrage.  Public outrage demanded political action.

A dangerous playground that often led to tragedy.

Numerous lurid newspaper accounts of killings and maimings of the population further inflamed the citizens of Chicago.  Additionally, as train frequencies rose with the growth of rail traffic, the railroads became an impediment to the smooth flow of street traffic.  Crossings were constantly blocked by slow moving or stationary trains.  In some cases the residents of neighborhoods threatened to tear up tracks unless the problems were solved.

The Chicago City Council realized that the costs of separating the multitude of tracks above or below grade were beyond the financial capacity of the city.  The decision was made to impel the railroads to elevate the tracks at their own expense.  The process began in 1892 with the raising of the Illinois Central tracks in Hyde Park in preparation for the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park.  On May 23rd, 1892 the Council passed an ordinance that required the IC to raise their tracks 18 feet above street level between 51st and 67th Street.  Thus began an over two decade process of forcing and cajoling every railroad to raise their tracks.

IC tracks pre-elevation.

The IC tracks post-elevation. 

The legal arguments for the city's right to pass such ordinances were hazy at best.  While compliance was considered voluntary, the assumption was the railroads would benefit from increased efficiency of operations.  If a railroad balked at the expenditure the City was not above using threats to have it's way.  The Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio were given the option of compliance or having police posted to stop the trains at every crossing.  The City would further threaten to build the necessary causeways and viaducts and the bill the railroads.

Elevation fill in progress near 18th and Halsted

'Little Englewood' station remains in use while track elevation work progresses.  The station will eventually be demolished and replaced.

Recently completed elevation and crossing at Englewood Junction.

Grade separation efforts became some of the greatest privately funded public works projects in the City's history.  By 1919 the railroads had collectively spent $95 million dollars elevating close to 550 miles of track, eliminating 963 grade crossings.  The track elevation also meant the demolition of existing stations and construction of new ones at above grade level.  Some railroads used this opportunity to eliminate station stops, especially in areas served by other transportation options such as streetcars and rapid transit.  In the case of the Chicago & North Western they jacked up their stations to the new track level and built new foundations underneath them.  The IC on the other hand chose to demolish numerous magnificent stations, replacing them with nondescript staircases and wooden platforms.

The C&NW Station at Rosehill Cemetery had been raised to bring it to the new track level.

This Victorian gem at 57th Street in Hyde Park succumbed to the wrecker's ball sometime after grade elevation.

The Great Depression effectively ended the track elevation program.  Further grade separation and crossing protection programs began to be funded jointly through public highway and railroad monies.  The tracks in certain neighborhoods, like Beverly, Morgan Park, South Shore and Fernwood remained at grade.  One of the unintended consequences of track elevation was the division and isolation of communities. Fewer streets were bridged, with many cut off for the sake of cost savings.  The embankments were unattractive, monolithic walls of concrete.  Beauty was forsaken in an era of expediency, and no attempts were made by the railroads to mitigate the visual effect of 'Chinese Walls'.  Racial boundaries were established by the presence of the physical and psychological impediment of the track elevations.

An unrelenting wall of concrete on the Bloomingdale Line.

In the case of one elevated rail line, it's abandonment brings promise of linear parkland in an area of rising income and property values.  The Bloomingdale Line, built by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (CM&StP) will now be turned into greenspace that will include a bike and running path.  Rather than removing the physical presence, it will be upgraded, repaired and enhanced at City expense.  In this case, the legacy of grade separation will benefit the community in a new way.

A complete list of grade separation ordinances can be found here.

Concept drawings for the new Bloomingdale Trail.