Chicago, IL Depot: Proposed Passenger Stations

There were some proposals to replace Central, Dearborn, LaSalle and Grand Central with a single station.

David Daruszka posted

The Chicago railroad station that never was.

In 1892 Gen. Joseph T. Torrence proposed a massive 14 track train station that would accommodate all the passenger roads entering the city from the south. Located at the corner of 12th and State Streets, his Chicago Elevated Terminal Railway Co. proposed elevation of the grade level tracks of the railroads using the station. The building, designed by noted architect Solon Beman, would include transfer tables for each track so that locomotives could easily be moved out of the station. A pioneer in iron and steel production in Chicago and Indiana, Torrence was also instrumental in the founding of the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad and the Chicago and Calumet Terminal Rwy.

The project never came to fruition, but it was the impetus for the elevation of railroad tracks in the city.

David Daruszka updated

David Daruszka posted two photos with the comment:

In 1909 the South Parks Commission and the Illinois Central Railroad reached an agreement to build and new "union" station adjacent to the Field Museum. The station would have served the roads using Dearborn, LaSalle and Grand Central stations as well as the IC. This may have coincided with the desire to electrify the railroads within the city limits. Only the IC would achieve that goal, and the advent of "clean" diesel locomotives would end those plans although steam would continue to reign until after World War II. This station was never built.

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