Chicago Union Station

Today’s Union Station is actually a replacement for two previous stations, which either burned or could no longer handle the traffic. Because of this, the three railroads who were regularly using the station, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and Milwaukee Road jointly created the Chicago Union Station Company to oversee and construct a new station in 1913. This it did and work was started a year later in 1914 although was not completed for eleven years until 1925 because of World War I.

The building’s designers and architects were Anderson, Probst & White who had done work on a number of other railroad stations and like many large stations of the period were built in the Beaux Arts style, one of the very last to receive such architecture.

Chicago Union Station’s original layout was roughly in a “back-to-back” setup with the Milwaukee Road using the north end served by ten tracks along with the Pennsylvania and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio using the south end which featured fourteen tracks (there was also two tracks which ran through the entire station to connect both sections).

The building itself is built with Indiana limestone and features Tuscan columns, similar to that of the late Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The station was designed as two distinct sections, the main waiting room and passenger concourse working as one with the two connected via an underground passageway.

The concourse was the section destroyed in the late 1960s but the main waiting room continues to stand. Known as The Great Hall, the room measures over 34 meters in height to a magnificent vaulted skylight and the wooden benches in the room are arranged for visitors to easily wait for their connections.

Aside from the splendor of the The Great Hall, Chicago Union Station also has Tennessee marble and terracotta walls incorporated into it. Today, along with continuing to serve over 100,000 daily passengers, the station is also used for several large gatherings and special events.

While the station itself may soon change, for perhaps better or worse depending on one’s perspective of the 18-story addition in the works, it is somewhat fortunate that the building itself remains today when so many others, especially in the Chicago area itself, have fallen to the wrecking-ball over the years.

For more reading about railroad stations you might want to consider a copy of Railroad Stations from author Brian Solomon. While the book is just a very general overview of some of the great stations that once stood in this country it is quite good with lots of historical photographs, including that of Grand Central Terminal and the late Pennsylvania Station (it also gives a history of the thousands of small depots that existed in most communities). All in all if you’re interested in stations and depots you’re sure to enjoy Mr. Solomon’s book on the subject. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit The Railroad Diamond by clicking the tab in the menu to your left marked "TRD Store".