LaSalle Street Station

LaSalle Street Station is a commuter rail terminal at
414 South LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. It was
a major intercity rail terminal for the New York Cen-
tral Railroad until 1968, and for the Chicago, Rock Is-
land and Pacic Railroad until 1978, but now serves only
Metra's Rock Island District. The present structure be-
came the fth station on the site when its predecessor
was demolished in 1981 and replaced by the new station
and an oce high-rise for the Chicago Stock Exchange.
The Chicago Board of Trade Building, Willis Tower and
Harold Washington Library are close by.
1 History
opened July 1, 1903 and stood until 1981. This station
was a set for Alfred Hitchcocks 1959 North by North-
west, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, and in the
1973 movie The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert
Redford.
From its completion in 1882, the New York, Chicago
and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) ran over the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway from a junc-
tion at Grand Crossing neighborhood north to downtown
Chicago, where it had its own terminal south of LaSalle.
The LS&MS quickly gained control of the Nickel Plate,
and later allowed it into its LaSalle Street Station as a ten-
ant. In July 1916 the LS&MS sold the Nickel Plate to the
Van Sweringens, but it continued to operate into LaSalle
until the end of Nickel Plate passenger service.

The 20th Century Limited being pulled out of LaSalle Street Sta-
tion by the Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive

From July 31, 1904[2] to August 1, 1913,[3] LaSalle Street

Station was also used by trains of the Chicago and Eastern
The station as rebuilt circa 1871 and demolished circa 1903 Illinois Railroad, which reached it via trackage rights on
[3]
The rst station on the site opened on May 22, 1852 with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacic from Ashburn.
the completion of the Northern Indiana and Chicago Rail- On January 18, 1957 trains of the Michigan Central Rail-
road. On October 1, 1852, the Chicago and Rock Island road started to use LaSalle, running over the New York
Railroad began using the station. The two railroads later Central Railroad's Lake Shore and Michigan Southern
became the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Railway from their former crossing at Porter, Indiana to
(New York Central Railroad) and Chicago, Rock Island Chicago. LS&MS and Michigan Central trains (both part
and Pacic Railroad. North of a junction at Englewood of the New York Central system) last used LaSalle on Oc-
Station, both companies lines ran parallel to the terminal. tober 26, 1968 (soon after the merge into Penn Central);
In December 1866 a new station opened. The Great the next day they began running into Union Station via a
Chicago Fire of October 1871 destroyed the station, connection in Whiting, Indiana and the Pittsburgh, Fort
which was rebuilt shortly afterwards. The post-re sta- Wayne and Chicago Railway.
tion was demolished to make way for a new station de- Most intercity rail service at La Salle ended on May 1,
signed by the architectural rm Frost & Granger[1] which 1971 when Amtrak consolidated long-distance services

1
2 4 GALLERY

at Union Station. Rock Island opted out of Amtrak and 3 Bus connections
continued to operate intercity service from LaSalle until
1978. CTA
A connection at Englewood Station was completed Octo-
ber 15, 1971 to allow the Chicago, Rock Island and Pa- 1 Bronzeville/Union Station
cic Railroad to also operate over the PFW&C to Union 7 Harrison
Station, but the failing Rock Island decided to continue
using LaSalle. Now only commuter trains on Metra's 22 Clark (Owl Service)
Rock Island District serve the station.
24 Wentworth
From 197275 the Rock Island operated a restaurant
called Track One using two former railroad cars parked 36 Broadway
on track 1 at the station. The two cars, the dining car 126 Jackson
Golden Harvest and the club-lounge Pacic Shore, had
previously served on the Golden State Limited.[4][5] 130 Museum Campus (Summer Service Only)

Although only Metras Rock Island District trains now 132 Goose Island Express
use LaSalle, additional service is planned. Metras pro-
151 Sheridan
posed SouthEast Service would terminate at LaSalle, and
Chicagos massive CREATE infrastructure improvement 156 LaSalle
program would allow trains from Metras SouthWest Ser-
vice to use the terminal.[6] ChicaGo Dash
In June 2011, The Chicago Department of Transportation
Shuttle service between Downtown Chicago and
opened the LaSalle/Congress Intermodal Transfer Cen-
Valparaiso (Rush Hour Only)
ter alongside the station as a bus terminal to serve people
transferring to CTA buses as well as Blue Line trains at
LaSalle[7]
4 Gallery

2 Services
LaSalle was a terminal for the following lines and intercity
trains:

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacic Railroad (until

1978)

New York Central Railroad (up to October 26,

1968)
The Chicago Stock
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Exchange/LaSalle Train Station as viewed from the
Plate) Sears Tower in July 2008

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (July 31, 1904

to August 1, 1913)

Michigan Central Railroad (part of the New York

Central) (January 18, 1957 to October 26, 1968)

Among the most famous name trains that terminated at

LaSalle were the New York Centrals 20th Century Lim-
ited from 1902 until 1967 and the Rock Island-Southern
Pacic Golden State Limited from 1902 until 1968.
LaSalle still serves commuter trains on Metra's Rock Is-
land District. Approximately 17,000 people board Metra LaSalle Intermodal
trains at LaSalle each day.[8] Transfer Center
 3

PRR Chronology

Michigans Internet Railroad History Museum

Railroad History Time Line

6 External links
Metra Rock Island District Chicago LaSalle Sta-
tion
Vintage Depots LaSalle Street Station in Chicago

LaSalle
Intermodal Transfer Center Bus Terminal

The
Chicago Loop with the platforms and tracks of
LaSalle Street Station visible in the foreground

5 References
[1] Railroad Gazette. Railroad gazette. 1902-01-01.

[2] Ocial Guide of the Railways, September 1904, p. 707

[3] Goss, William Freeman Myrick, Smoke Abatement and

Electrication of Railway Terminals in Chicago. Report of
the Chicago Association of Commerce, Committee of Inves-
tigation on Smoke Abatement and Electrication of Rail-
way Terminals, Chicago Association of Commerce and
Industry, 1915, p. 505

[4] Davis, Robert (17 July 1975). Track One diner hits end
of line. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on
7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.

[5] Randall, W. David (1974). Railway Passenger Car An-

nual, Volume I, 1973-1974. Park Forest, IL: RPC Publi-
cations. p. 73.

[6] Metra Moving. Railway Track & Structures. 12

September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2012.

[7] Ocials unveil new LaSalle intermodal station. Redeye.

17 June 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.

[8] On the Bi-Level, October 2007.

4 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text
LaSalle Street Station Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaSalle_Street_Station?oldid=761147184 Contributors: Freechild, Mack-
ensen, D6, Strannik, Slambo, SPUI, Gws57, Jivecat, Jbc2k052, Loco830, Hillrhpc, Boreas231, SmackBot, Srsjones, AWeenieMan, Ice-
box93, Tmangray, Cydebot, Ksbrown, Loudsox, DanTD, NE2, Djkeddie, LurkingInChicago, Hugo999, WOSlinker, Zol87, Chaplin62,
WereSpielChequers, Oahiyeel, Xnatedawgx, Jimmy Slade, Alexbot, Secondarywaltz, The Wicked Twisted Road, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lost
on Belmont, Lightbot, Full-date unlinking bot, Train2104, OneNester, Gfoley4, Dewritech, Michaelenandry, Alan D. Follett, YFdyh-bot,
OccultZone, Sizeont, J. Martin Velez Linares, GreenC bot, 1234tomdorman and Anonymous: 19

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