Polk Street Depot

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 until May 1, 1971. Built in 1883, 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 spaces.

Description and history

The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened in 1885 at a cost of $400 to $500 thousand (equivalent to $ to $ million in ). 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.

Services

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

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