All lines operating into Dearborn Station, except for the Santa Fe, travelled over the C&WI's
Dearborn Station (also called, Polk Street Depot) was, beginning in the late 1800s, one of six intercitytrain stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It remained in operation until May 1, 1971. Built in 1883, it is located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, to the south of the Loop, 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 building headhouse now houses office, retail, and entertainment spaces, and its trackage yard, behind the headhouse, was redeveloped into part of the Dearborn Park neighborhood.
Description and history
Postcard of Dearborn Station (1885) as it appeared c. 1907. Originally, the headhouse had a steeped pitch roof story, which was eliminated during reconstruction following a fire in the early 1920s. The train sheds over the tracks are pictured to the back.
The Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, opened in 1885 at a cost of $400 to $500 thousand (equivalent to $13.6 to $17 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.[3] Inside the station were ticket counters, waiting rooms, and Fred Harvey Company restaurants.[4]
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. The glowing face of the station clock in the clocktower is visible upper-left.
Some of the railroads that served the station include the following, with some of the more well-known name trains listed:
In blues musician Henry Thomas' 1927 song "Railroadin' Some", the "Polk Street Depot" is the next to last stop on a journey that begins in Fort Worth, Texas, and ends in Chicago.
Dearborn Station is mentioned multiple times in the 1974 "Adam's Ribs" episode of M*A*S*H, in which Hawkeye Pierce craves the barbecued ribs from a fictional restaurant adjacent to the station, but can't recall the name. He calls the station master from South Korea to get the restaurant's name and phone number. Hawkeye refers to the terminal as the "Dearborn Street Station".
"Dearborn Station" is a song by the rock band Fortune that was released in 1985.[8]
Photo Gallery
The north (frontal) and west side
The east side
The south (rear) side
Inside the building
The station's train shed being demolished in May 1976; the "head house" can be seen at the rear
A city park, Dearborn Park, and townhouses now occupy the former platform and trackage area
^"Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad". Official Guide of the Railways. New York City, New York: National Railway Publication Company. Jan 1904. p. 700. Retrieved 9 Jan 2015 – via books.google.com.
^Goss, William Freeman Myrick, Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals in Chicago. Report of the Chicago Association of Commerce, Committee of Investigation on Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals, Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry, 1915, p. 505
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