The Great Hall
Trains used to dominate travel. Until the ascendency of commercial airlines in the late 1950s, you took the train.
And Chicago was the hub of our national rail network. Rail travelers from the east, west, and south all converged in Chicago to transfer from one railroad to another.
In its heyday, Chicago had seven major train stations.
Today, only three stations are in use. Chicago Union Station is one of them and remains a busy intercity and commuter rail terminal. Prior to the pandemic, about 130,000 commuters and 10,000 Amtrak passengers used the station on a typical weekday. By comparison, O’Hare hosts about a quarter million travelers a day.
The Station Site
On December 25, 1858, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad built the first station on the west bank of the Chicago River at what would eventually become today’s Union Station.
On April 7, 1874, five railroads agreed to build and share a union (multi-railroad) station on that west bank site. The Pennsylvania; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; Michigan Central; Chicago and Alton; and Milwaukee Road railroads built the original Chicago Union Station in 1881 at a cost of $1M ($27M in today’s dollars).
The present Chicago Union Station opened on May 16, 1925, replacing the original 1881 Union Station. Construction took 10 years, and the cost was $75M ($1B in today’s dollars). Including approach and storage tracks, it is a whopping nine and a half city blocks in size. The facilities are mostly underground, buried almost entirely beneath streets and skyscrapers.
An Architectural Gem
The 1925 station was envisioned by famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham as a magnificent gateway to the West Loop. Designed by Burnham’s successors at Graham Anderson Probst & White, it features Bedford limestone Beaux-Arts facades, massive Corinthian columns, marble floors, and a magnificent Great Hall, all highlighted by brass lamps.
The Great Hall is a 110-foot-high atrium capped by a large barrel-vaulted skylight. The Chicago Tribune calls it “One of the nation’s most impressive indoor public spaces.” Arrayed around the Great Hall are numerous smaller spaces containing restaurants and services, and a wide passageway leading to the concourse.
1925 Dedication of Union Station in the Great Hall (Chicago Tribune Photo)
The Shot
I decided to take my camera along when I dropped off my wife, Christine, at the station. She was taking Amtrak to Champaign to visit and help out with our new grandson Leo and his sleepless parents. I wandered around the station taking shots until deciding to go for the wide-angle grandeur that epitomizes the Great Hall to this day.
In case you didn’t realize it, I stood in the same spot as the 1925 Chicago Tribune photographer.
FYI, I’ll be in the field over the next two weeks combing several locations for future Friday foto fodder. See you again in mid-March!
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus