Union Station (Chicago)
Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNI : Union Station (Chicago)
 Chicago Union Station | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address | 225 South Canal Street Chicago, IL 60606 | ||
| Amtrak routes | California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service, Illinois Service, Michigan Services, Capitol Limited. Cardinal/Hoosier State, Missouri Routes, Southwest Chief, & Texas Eagle | ||
| Other service | Metra, NCS, MD-N, MD-W, Metra-BNSF, HC, SWS | ||
| Amtrak code | CHI | ||
| Owned by | CUST (Amtrak) | ||
History
On April 7, 1874 the Pennsylvania Company (the owner of the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Lines West" territory), Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Michigan Central Railroad, Chicago and Alton Railroad and Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway signed an agreement to build a union station on land owned by the Pennsylvania Company's Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway between Van Buren Street and Madison Street on the west side of the Chicago River.
The Michigan Central, which used the Illinois Central Railroad's Illinois Central Depot, would have switched to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway at Tolleston, Indiana. However, it quickly decided to keep using the Illinois Central Depot. The Chicago and North Western Railway also considered switching to the new station from its Wells Street Station, but instead built the Chicago and North Western Passenger Terminal in 1911. The other four companies went on to use the station when it opened in 1881.
The second Union Station was built by the Chicago Union Station Company, owned by all the companies that used the first station but the Chicago and Alton (which used the new one anyway). The architect was Daniel Burnham of Chicago, who died before its completion. The firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White completed the work to Burnham's designs. Work began in 1913 and the station opened on May 16, 1925, though some construction on viaducts carrying streets over the approach tracks went on into 1927. Construction was delayed by World War I, labor shortages and strikes. It is one of about a dozen monumental Beaux-Arts railroad stations that were among the most complicated architectural programs of the era called the "American Renaissance", combining traditional architecture with engineering technology, circulation patterning and urban planning.
Upon its completion, Union Station was hailed as an outstanding achievement in railroad facility planning. Today, the monumental neoclassical station is the last remaining railroad terminal still used by intercity trains in Chicago. The station's ornate Beaux-Arts main waiting room, the "Great Hall", is one of the United States' great interior public spaces with its vaulted skylight, statuary, and connecting lobbies, staircases, and balconies. The Great Hall is over 34 meters high. Enormous wooden benches are arranged in the room for travellers to wait for connections.
During World War II, Union Station was at its busiest, handling as many as 300 trains and 100,000 passengers daily. In 1969, the concourse at Union Station was demolished so that two office buildings and a new, modernized concourse could be constructed. In 1992, Union Station was renovated by Lucien Lagrange Associates. Union Station currently serves all Amtrak intercity trains to Chicago, as well as Metra commuter rail lines - the North Central Service, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor and SouthWest Service. Union Station is as busy as ever: as of 2006, approximately 126,000 people use the station on a daily basis, including 6,000 Amtrak passengers.[link]
Unlike other major American intercity/commuter rail hubs, such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in New York, and Union Station in Los Angeles, Union Station does not have any direct connection to local rapid transit service: the Chicago Transit Authority's El system does not stop at Union Station. However, Chicago's highly centralized urban form means that most commuters can walk to their final destinations.
Services
Union Station served as a terminal for the following lines and intercity trains:
- Chicago and Alton Railroad - only a tenant, later part of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
- Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road)
- Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR)
- Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Panhandle) (moved to use the PFW&C approach after April 23, 1917)
- New York Central Railroad and Michigan Central Railroad (moved from LaSalle Street Station October 27, 1968)
- Amtrak (began May 1, 1971, moved from Dearborn Station May 2, 1971 and Central Station March 6, 1972 (Floridian moved January 23, 1972)); Amtrak's Calumet and Indiana Connection commuter trains also ran into Union Station
{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center;" |- style="background: #F0F0F0;" ! Preceding station ! colspan="3" | Amtrak Lines ! Following station |- style="text-align: center;" | rowspan=3|Terminus|| style="background:#004670;" | || California Zephyr (Chicago-Emeryville)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||NPV |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || City of New Orleans (Chicago-New Orleans)|| style="background:#004670;" | || HMW |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || Empire Builder (Chicago-Portland/Seattle)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||GLN |- style="text-align: center;" | GLN || style="background:#004670;" | || Hiawatha (Milwaukee-Chicago)|| style="background:#004670;" | || Terminus |- style="text-align: center;" | rowspan=6|Terminus || style="background:#004670;" | || Illinois Zephyr (Chicago-Quincy)|| style="background:#004670;" | || LAG |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || State House (Chicago-St. Louis)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||SMT |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || The Illini (Chicago-Carbondale)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||HMW |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || Ann Rutledge (Chicago-Kansas City)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||SMT |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || Southwest Chief (Chicago-Los Angeles) || style="background:#004670;" | ||NPV |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || Texas Eagle (Chicago-San Antonio)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||JOL |- style="text-align: center;" | NLS || style="background:#004670;" | || The Blue Water (Port Huron-Chicago)|| style="background:#004670;" | ||rowspan=3|Terminus |- style="text-align: center;" | SOB || style="background:#004670;" | || Capitol Limited (Washington D.C.-Chicago)|| style="background:#004670;" | |- style="text-align: center;" | DYE || style="background:#004670;" | || Cardinal (New York-Chicago)|| style="background:#004670;"| |- style="text-align: center;" | rowspan=2|Terminus || style="background:#004670;" | || Hoosier State (Chicago-Indianapolis)|| style="background:#004670;" | || DYE |- style="text-align: center;" | style="background:#004670;" | || Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-Boston/New York)|| style="background:#004670;" | || SOB |- style="text-align: center;" | NBM || style="background:#004670;" | || The Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids-Chicago)|| style="background:#004670;" | || rowspan=4|Terminus |- style="text-align: center;" | HMI||style="background:#004670;" | || The Wolverine (Pontiac-Chicago)
(#350, #352, #353, #355) || style="background:#004670;"| |- style="text-align: center;" | KAL ||style="background:#004670;" | || The Wolverine (Pontiac-Chicago)
(#351) | || style="background:#004670;" | |- style="text-align: center;" | NLS || style="background:#004670;" | || The Wolverine (Pontiac-Chicago)
(#354) || style="background:#004670;" |
[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] Major intercity railroad stations of Chicago
| |
| Active terminals: | LaSalle - Ogilvie (North Western) - Randolph - Union (CUSCo) |
| Former terminals: | Central Station - Dearborn (C&WI) - Grand Central (B&OCT) Central Depot - Galena and Chicago Union - Nickel Plate Wells (C&NW) - Wells (CA&E) - Columbian Exposition |
| Other stations: | Englewood |
See also
External links
- [Amtrak- Union Station]]
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
- * Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Microsoft Virtual Earth]
- [Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Homepage] - see "Historical Architectural Projects" pages
References
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