In June 1887, a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad called the Chicago & Calumet Terminal Railway (C&CT) consolidated several terminal railroads in the Chicago area with lines running between the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at McCook, Illinois to the south and south-east to Hammond, Indiana and a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O). It also served to connect those railroads for freight transfers, and is now controlled by CSX Corporation, the successor to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.īy 1886, the Wisconsin Central Railroad had formed a new railway company, called the Chicago and Great Western Railroad (C&GW, not to be confused with the Chicago Great Western Railway) to build a new line from a connection with the WC at Forest Park into the city, and to construct the Grand Central Station, which opened in December 1890. The Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad ( reporting mark BOCT) is a terminal railroad in the Chicago area, formerly giving various other companies access to (Chicago's) Grand Central Station. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.įind sources: 'Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad' – news īaltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal RailroadĤ ft 8 + 1⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm) standard gauge Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Suburban trains continued to stop north of Central Station where Millennium Station now stands.This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. That station opened on April 17, 1893, and Great Central was demolished. The Illinois Central constructed a new facility, Central Station, to meet the traffic demands of the World's Columbian Exposition. Traffic peaked at 100 intercity passenger trains per day in the early 1890s, not including suburban (what would now be called commuter) trains. Louis Railway (the 'Big Four') reached the depot in 1872 via trackage rights from Kankakee. Predecessors of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. The G&CU was a tenant for less than a year, while the Burlington moved to the new Union Depot (predecessor to today's Union Station) in 1881. The Great Central originally served the Illinois Central, Michigan Central, Burlington Route, and Galena and Chicago Union (a predecessor to the Chicago and North Western). It was the Illinois Central's first permanent station in Chicago and cost US$250,000. Great Central Station officially opened on June 1, 1856. A subsequent fire in 1874 damaged the head house. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the train shed, which was never rebuilt. On its completion the station was the largest building in Chicago. Only Birmingham New Street railway station had a wider roof. The train shed incorporated a Howe truss in its design and measured 166 feet (51 m) wide and 36 feet (11 m) high. Condit cited the design as an example of vernacular architecture. Architectural historian Carroll Meeks criticized the front of the head house, calling it an 'ill-assorted complex of disparate elements.' Carl W. The most distinctive feature of the train shed was the three masonry arches fronting the wooden structure. Matz and included both a head house and a train shed. Millennium Station, formerly Randolph Street Terminal, sits on the location. Although it continued to receive some traffic, over time it increasingly became a commuter rail depot. The station proved inadequate to handle growing traffic and its original building was demolished in 1893 in favor of the new Central Station at the southern end of Grant Park. It was damaged in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 but remained in operation. The IC had its headquarters in offices above the depot, while beyond the depot was the large rail house where eight track lines ran. Its passenger depot building was located on Water Street. It opened in 1856 and for a time was the largest building in downtown Chicago. Great Central Station, also known as Great Central Depot, was an intercity train station in Chicago, Illinois, owned by the Illinois Central Railroad (IC).

Chicago grand central station