Central Station was an

intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

passenger terminal in downtown

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, at the southern end of Grant Park near

Roosevelt Road Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west street in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only south of Madison Street. It runs under this ...

and Michigan Avenue. Owned by the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line al ...

, it also served other companies via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

. It opened in 1893, replacing Great Central Station (on the site of the current

Millennium Station Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metr ...

), and closed in 1972 when

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

rerouted services to Union Station. The station building was demolished in 1974. It is now the site of a redevelopment called Central Station, Chicago. Adjoining platforms at Roosevelt served the Illinois Central's suburban trains for both the

Electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

lines, in addition to the

South Shore Line The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport ...

interurban railroad. All three lines continued north to

Randolph Street Randolph Street is a street in Chicago. It runs east–west through the Chicago Loop, carrying westbound traffic west from Michigan Avenue across the Chicago River on the Randolph Street Bridge, interchanging with the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/ I ...

History

Illinois Central

The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Bradford L. Gilbert and built by the Illinois Central Railroad, opened April 17, 1893 to meet the traffic demands of the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. The nine-story building featured a 13-story clock tower and housed the general offices of the railroad. It boasted the largest

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

in the world at the time, which measured 140 by 610 feet. Gremley & Bierdermann Inc. was contracted to provide land survey services and determine the boundary line configuration for the "Central Station Substation". The station was built, owned and used by the Illinois Central Railroad for intercity trains, with connections to commuter trains and the

across an adjacent bridge. It was also used by the Illinois Central's Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad, merged into the IC in 1902, which reached the station via the St. Charles Air Line Railroad, meeting the IC main line just south of the station. Michigan Boulevard at Night pm1912 F

Also sharing the station was the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in ...

, part of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

system, which had shared the IC's terminal from its opening in 1852. The Michigan Central connected with the Illinois Central at

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

. The

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States. It operated in affiliation with the New York Central system. I ...

(Big Four), also a New York Central line, joined the IC at Kankakee and also used Central Station. Using the station from the beginning was the

Chicago and West Michigan Railway The Chicago and West Michigan Railway (C&WM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan between 1881 and 1899.Pere Marquette Railroad The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections i ...

in 1900. At the time it used the Michigan Central west from

New Buffalo, Michigan New Buffalo is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,883 at the time of the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is wa ...

The Wisconsin Central Railway (part of the

Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM) was a Class I railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Midwestern United States. Commonly known since its opening in 1884 as the Soo Line after the phonetic ...

(Soo Line) after 1909) switched from Grand Central Station to Central in 1899 due to disagreements with the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad, which owned Grand Central. To get to Central it used a portion of the recently opened Chicago, Hammond and Western Railroad (later the

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is a Class III railroadSurface Transportation BoardThe Belt Railway Company of Chicago -- Trackage Rights Exemption -- Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company January 9, 2002 in the United States. Ownership The IHB ...

) from Franklin Park to Broadview, and the Illinois Central's Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad from Broadview to the terminal. On December 15, 1903, the Pere Marquette Railroad's line to Porter, Indiana opened, and its trains were rerouted from Central to Grand Central. 1971 Central Station

The Soo Line switched back to Grand Central Station in 1912. On March 1, 1925 the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

began using Central, switching from Dearborn Station. Its new alignment used the allied New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) from

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...

north to Grand Crossing, Illinois, where it joined the Illinois Central to its terminal. In 1963 the Soo Line once again switched stations, moving back into Central for its final years of passenger service. The New York Central Railroad moved its

trains from Central to the NYC's LaSalle Street Station on January 18, 1957. The Illinois Central Railroad sued the Michigan Central, which had used the Illinois Central's Chicago terminal since 1852, for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, settling out of court for $5 million.

Amtrak

By May 1, 1971, the startup date of

, Central was used only by trains of the Illinois Central Railroad (including the ''

City of Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

'', '' City of New Orleans'' and '' Panama Limited'' on the line south from Chicago, and the '' Hawkeye'' on the line to the west) and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four) (including the '' James Whitcomb Riley''. Amtrak continued only the ''City of New Orleans'', ''James Whitcomb Riley'' and moved the ''South Wind'' to Central Station as part of a rerouting on the Penn Central from former Pennsylvania trackage in Indiana to the former Big Four, as well as the IC's local ''

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

''. On January 23, 1972 Amtrak moved the '' Floridian'' (renamed from the ''South Wind'' in November 1971) to Union Station due to poor track conditions on its route in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. The rest of the trains - the ''

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

'', ''James Whitcomb Riley'', ''Panama Limited'' (temporarily renamed from the ''City of New Orleans'', also in November 1971), and the ''Shawnee'' - last served Central Station March 5, 1972, after which they were rerouted to Union Station. The ''Panama Limited'' and ''Shawnee'' continued to use the IC to just south of Central Station, where they turned west onto the St. Charles Air Line as a realigned junction and ran west to Union Station, including at least one reversal to reach the station, a practice which continues today. In late 1973, the Illinois Central relocated its general offices to the new

Illinois Center Illinois Center is a mixed-use urban development in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA, lying east of Michigan Avenue. It is notable in that the streets running through it have three levels. Elsewhere in Chicago, some streets have two levels, ...

. Demolition of Central Station and its train shed began on June 3, 1974. The commuter platforms remained until Spring 2009, serving the

Metra Electric Line The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth ...

and NICTD's

, when they were replaced with more modern structures and renamed Museum Campus/11th Street station. The railyards south of the station are the site of ongoing redevelopment as the Central Station project.

Services

Six of Roger Puta's Illinois Central Photos (23728641439)

Central Station was a

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...

for the following lines and intercity trains: *

(March 1, 1925 to ca. 1930s) *

(Big Four) **'' Carolina Special'' to Asheville, Charlotte, and Charleston **'' James Whitcomb Riley'' to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

**'' Royal Palm'' and ''

Ponce de Leon Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) * *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the 20th century * British sl ...

'' trains to Georgia and Florida *

**''

'' to

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

**'' City of New Orleans'' and '' Panama Limited'' to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

**'' Diamond Special'' to St. Louis, Missouri **'' Hawkeye'' to

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

**'' Iowan'' to

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...

**'' Land O'Corn'' to

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

**''

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

'' to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

**''

'' to

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

**'' Sinnissippi'' to Freeport, Iowa *

(up to January 17, 1957) **''

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

'' to

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, and later to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

**'' Mercury'' to

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

and

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

**'' North Shore Limited'' to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

**'' Motor City Special'' to

**'' Niagara'' to

(cut back to Niagara Falls to NYC in 1940s) **''

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...

'' to

(Soo Line) (1899 to 1912 and after 1965) **'' Laker'' to

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...

Pere Marquette Railroad The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections i ...

(up to December 15, 1903) *

(through March 5, 1972) **'' Floridian'' **''

''/'' James Whitcomb Riley'' **'' Panama Limited'' **''

'' The following

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

services operated through the station (southern line electrified after 1926) en route to

Randolph Street Terminal Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metr ...

(now Millennium Station) approximately 1.5 miles to the north: *

- serving mostly local stops to South Chicago,

Blue Island Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, located approximately south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,55 ...

and

Richton Park Richton Park is a village and a southern suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,775 at the 2020 census. The community was named after a Richton in Vermont, the native home of a first settler. Geograph ...

, later extended to University Park *Illinois Central Railroad - serving local stops to Addison (abandoned 1931) * Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad (beginning August 29, 1926) -

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

electric trains to

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

The former Illinois Central electric commuter service is operated by

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines ...

as its Electric Line and the former South Shore interurban is operated by the

Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport in ...

References

PRR Chronology

External links

{{Chicago Railway stations in Chicago Central Chicago Demolished buildings and structures in Chicago Demolished railway stations in the United States Former Amtrak stations in Illinois

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Chicago Central Chicago Central Former South Shore Line stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1893 Railway stations closed in 1972 Clock towers in Illinois 1893 establishments in Illinois 1972 disestablishments in Illinois Chicago Central Chicago Central Romanesque Revival architecture in Illinois Buildings and structures demolished in 1974