Dearborn Station facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 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; -87.6283028
Other services
Preceding station Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Following station Terminus Suburban service 47th Street toward Dolton Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station McCook toward Los Angeles Main Line Terminus Preceding station Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Following station Dolton toward Evansville Main Line Terminus Dolton toward St. Louis Chicago – St. Louis Preceding station Erie Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Marion toward Jersey City 47th Street toward Jersey City Preceding station Grand Trunk Western Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line 47th Street toward Port Huron Suburban Service 47th Street toward Valparaiso Preceding station Monon Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line 47th Street toward Louisville Preceding station Wabash Railroad Following station 47th Street toward Kansas City Main Line Terminus Terminus Chicago – Buffalo 47th Street toward Buffalo Preceding station Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Following station Terminus Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad 1911-1925 47th Street toward Cincinnati
Dearborn Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Built	1883; 141 years ago (1883)
Architect	Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.	76000688
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	March 26, 1976; 48 years ago (1976-03-26)

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 Depot) was, beginning in the late 1800s one of six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It remained in operation through to 1971. Built in 1885, it is located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, adjacent to Printers Row. The station was owned by the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, which itself was owned by the companies operating over its line. The station is now a shopping mall housing office, retail and entertainment space.

Description and history

Postcard of Dearborn Station as it appeared ca. 1907. Originally, it had a steeped pitch roof story, which was eliminated in reconstruction in the 1920s

The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened May 8, 1885 at a cost of $400 to $500 thousand (equivalent to $13 to $16.3 million in 2024). 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 Fred Harvey Company restaurants.

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.

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. The former rail yards were converted for use as Dearborn Park.

Tower Detail

Services

The Kansas City Chief at Dearborn Station on February 5, 1968

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

• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) – the Chief, Super Chief, El Capitan, and Grand Canyon Limited (to name but a few) to Los Angeles, California; the Texas Chief to Galveston/Houston, Texas; the Antelope to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the Kansas Cityan (and its eastbound counterpart, the Chicagoan) to Kansas City, Missouri; 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 the Grand Central Station February 28, 1925).
• Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad – Cardinal, Zipper and Silent Knight to St. Louis, Missouri; Dixie Flyer, and Dixie Flagler and Georgian to Evansville, continuing to Nashville, Tennessee, then Atlanta, Georgia, and finally Miami, Florida (The Georgian ending at Atlanta). From July 31, 1904 to August 1, 1913, Chicago & Eastern Illinois trains used LaSalle Street Station.
• Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway (Monon) – Hoosier and Tippecanoe to Indianapolis, Indiana, Thoroughbred to Louisville, Kentucky.
• Erie Railroad (Erie Lackawanna Railway from 1960) – Atlantic Express and Pacific Express, Erie Limited, Phoebe Snow and Lake Cities to Hoboken, or Jersey City, New Jersey.
• Grand Trunk Western Railroad – Maple Leaf, Inter-City Limited and International Limited to Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Mohawk to Detroit, Michigan.
• Wabash Railroad (Norfolk and Western Railway from 1964) – Blue Bird and Banner Blue to St. Louis, Missouri.

The following commuter rail services also operated from the station:

• Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (until 1935) – operated from Dearborn Station to Crete, Illinois. Metra is planning to revive the route as its SouthEast Service.
• Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (until 1964) – operated between Dearborn Station and Dolton, Illinois serving mostly local stops within Chicago's far south side.
• Chicago and Erie Railroad – operated from Dearborn Station to Rochester, Indiana.
• Grand Trunk Western Railroad (until 1935) – operated from Dearborn Station to Valparaiso, Indiana (later service was cut-back to Harvey, Illinois).
• Wabash Railroad (Norfolk and Western Railway from 1964) – used a track west of the station until 1976, when moved to the Union Station); now Metra's SouthWest Service.
• Santa Fe Railway (until 1903) operated from Dearborn Station to Joliet, Illinois.

Images for kids

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  The north (frontal) and west side

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  the east side

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  the south (rear) side

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  inside the building

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

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  former platform