Can anyone confirm what the original B&O route into downtown Chicago was?
I grew up in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago near a NW/SE diagonal RR spur line, which I believe was part of the B&O CT, connecting the US Steel South Works in South Chicago and the Illinois Central main line / Grand Crossing. (I am not sure exactly what this spur line connected to at the NW end.)
My question: Was this line ever the principal entrance for the B&O into Chicago?
I understand that the B&O accessed Chicago via IC tracks. Was this route through the area that later became Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood the original B&O route, before the later B&O routes into the city?
On a map which the IC RR issued at the time of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair), the B&O is shown with a line from the East along the NW Indiana lakefront, then diverging to the N adjacent to the US Steel South Works area and then continuing along the line of “spur” that I described above to the World’s Fair site in what is now Jackson Park.
This map is in "Limiteds Along the Lakefront, The Illinois Central in Chicago", 1986, by Alan R. Lind (p. 42). Also, on p. 6, “the B&O began to use the IC’s tracks in 1874” to the B&O depot in “part of the lakefront exposition hall between Jackson and Madison”.
The map, and the information that the B&O accessed downtown Chicago via the IC RR, would seem to indicate that this route through what is now South Shore was the “main line” for B&O passenger trains in the 1800’s.
When I lived in South Shore in the 1950’s, this “spur line” had only occasional local freights. This line has been abandoned for some time, and now homes have been built on the former RR right of way in a number of locations.
Ray Q
Yes I think that's it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=IEPCqQErPHAC&pg=PA152
http://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicago-infrastructure/south-shore-bo-spur/
Mike
wanswheel Yes I think that's it. http://books.google.com/books?id=IEPCqQErPHAC&pg=PA152 http://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicago-infrastructure/south-shore-bo-spur/ Mike
wanswheel,
Thanks for those two links.
In the Forgotten Chicago article, there is a mention of the elevation of the IC tracks in the late 19th century. The location of the IC track elevation is at Grand Crossing. An interesting history about Grand Crossing can be found at:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/547.html
I recall a couple of cool photos in a book that I have showing the crossing at ground level before elevation and the crossing during the process of constructing the elevation. That original ground level crossing was incredible, given the number of tracks crossing each other.
wanswheel, perhaps you can post those photos for us, given you awesome powers of producing photos upon request.
Don't let us down!
Rich
Alton Junction
I got tired of waiting for wanwheel.
Here is a link to those two photos of Greater Grand Crossing in Chicago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Grand_Crossing,_Chicago
Another picture of Grand Crossing at link
http://chuckmancollectionvolume8.blogspot.com/2010/10/postcard-chicago-grand-crossing-rail.html
Excerpt from History of the Illinois Central Railroad to 1870 by Howard K Brownson
Supposing the first measure had definitely settled the questions under dispute in regard to an entrance into Chicago, the president immediately directed the engineers to commence active construction work from Chicago to the state line. When the second ordinance was not accepted, the company, of course, had no legal right to enter the city, but rather than delay matters it was determined to complete the railroad from Lake Calumet to the city limits at once. There was practically no danger of not obtaining a proper entrance to the city, and the construction of this section would provide the Michigan Central with its much desired entrance into Chicago without a protracted delay. Much of the ground south of the city limits, especially near Lake Calumet and Woodlawn, was low and marshy, and this made it necessary to place the tracks on trestle work at considerable additional expense. Rails and ties had been ordered in the fall of 1851 and by January, 1852, the first shipments had arrived. Grading and other preliminary work was commenced in December, and the combined energies of the Michigan Central and Illinois Central were exerted to finish the line from the Indiana border to Lake Calumet and from there to Hyde Park. Construction was continued when possible during the winter, and as soon as the weather permitted both companies placed large gangs of men at work. By May 1 the railroad was within eight miles of the city limits, and three weeks later that short stretch was completed. On the twenty-first of the month, the first train, hauling gravel and construction materials, left Calumet and ran to the city limits. Temporary freight and passenger stations had been established just outside the limits and on the morning of May 22 this first completed section of the Illinois Central was formally opened, and a passenger train was run from Chicago to the state line. Regular freight and passenger trains were placed in service a few days later. The Michigan Central made use of the tracks of the Illinois Central from Calumet to Chicago, and this piece of roadbed became the final link by which the former company established a through line from Chicago to the East.
The tracks from the city limits south were not completed without several sharp fights with the Southern Michigan. That company opposed the construction of the road and endeavored to prevent the Illinois Central from crossing its tracks. It demanded that the latter company put in an overhead crossing at what is now Grand Crossing, which was refused. The difficulty could not be settled and each company refused to allow the other to put in any crossing at all. Finally the Illinois Central impatient of this delay sent laborers to build the crossing under cover of night. The Southern Michigan was taken by surprise, its watchmen were overpowered, and the grade crossing was finished before morning. The Michigan company was forced to accept the situation and the last obstacle to the completion of this section was removed.
Except from Story of Chicago by Joseph Kirkland (1892)
On February 20, 1852, the first [Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana] train arrived, greeted by cheers and cannon firing, this being the first eastern connection by rail: Not all rail, however, as the link from Buffalo to Toledo was not made until 1857; meanwhile the eastern connection for both the Southern and Central roads was by means of Lake Erie steamboats. And in the very year of its establishment of a through all-rail connection with the east, the Michigan Southern Company went to protest, its property was seized, and the new Board of Directors, holding its first meeting, was compelled to borrow a few chairs to take the place of those held by the sheriff.
Three months after the Southern began to run in, namely, on May 21, 1852, the Michigan Central made its way to the city, by utilizing from Calumet, fourteen miles out, the track of the Illinois Central. There was a bitter fight between the two Michigan roads, the right of one road to cross the tracks of another (as the M. C. R. R. did those of the M. S. & N. I. R. R.) was not yet established and regulated by law. It was soon so established, the settlement being hastened by a deplorable calamity which occurred at the crossing (the point now known as "Grand Crossing," within city limits) on April 25th, 1853. The Southern, being the first in the field, denied to the other the right to cross its tracks at all; and strove by injunction to prevent it. During the legal contest it ran its road as if the other's did not exist, passing the crossing point at full speed. This recklessness led to the natural result; two trains came together and as usual the innocent suffered from the wrong-doing of the contestants. Eighteen persons were killed outright and some forty of the injured were brought to the city. An indignation meeting was held and a demand made that every train should come to a full stop before crossing, at grade, the track of another road. That became the rule and so continues to this day.
Thanks for that additional photo.
Greater Grand Crossing has always fascinated me, considering that it was the largest ground level crossing in the world.
The determination, and the technical ability, to construct an elevated crossing of that magnitude at that time in railroad history has to impress even the most casual observer.
Greater Grand Crossing would be one heckuva modeling effort for someone to undertake on his layout. It won't be me.
Excerpt from Forty-third Annual Report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Illinois for the year ending June 30, 1913.
Railroad and Warehouse Commission, ex rel A. C. Clark, et al., Petitioners
v.
Pennsylvania Company, Defendant
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company, Defendant
In re Removal of station at Grand Crossing, Illinois
The petition in each of the above entitled cases is the same, and filed by the same persons for the same purpose against the respective defendants.
The petition alleges that the petitioners, and each of them, are citizens of Illinois, residing in the vicinity of what is known as Grand Crossing; that there is a population in the neighborhood of 50,000 residing within a certain territory described as bounded on the north by Sixty-third Street, on the south by Seventy-eighth Street, on the west by State Street and on the east by Lake Michigan; that the people residing within such territory for many years used the defendants' trains as a means of transportation in and out of the vicinity of Grand Crossing; that the several defendants have maintained a station at what is known as Grand Crossing for about forty years; that a few years ago track elevation was ordered, and that while in process of construction, the station was moved, as the evidence shows, twenty-eight hundred feet northwest of its former location; that said new station is to be made permanent and that thereby the people heretofore using said depot facilities at Grand Crossing will be deprived of adequate transportation facilities.
The petitioners further show that Grand Crossing is not a municipality, but is the name of a locality and state that it has been known as Grand Crossing for fifty years; the central point of the locality is the point where the two defendant railroads cross the Illinois Central Railroad; they also allege that Grand Crossing is a name well-known throughout the United States; that when these railroads first crossed at that point it was an open prairie; that since that date factories and business houses have located around and near the junction of these railroads, and that depots were established and trains stopped there on account thereof; that the community at once commenced to grow up around the junction and that growth has continued for fifty years; that originally it was a part of the town of Hyde Park, then became the village of Hyde Park, and afterwards became part of the city of Chicago; that the United States has maintained a post office near this junction, which was called "Grand Crossing;" that about thirty factories are located in and around the junction, which employ all the way from ten to five hundred people; that prior to the removal of depot as complained of, the citizens of that locality could take passage on the trains of the two defendants at that point for any point in the east; that it was used by the citizens for that purpose; it is alleged that now citizens living in that locality must either go to Englewood on the west or to South Chicago on the east; Englewood is from two to three miles on the west and South Chicago is a similar distance on the east.
The answer of each of the defendants denies the power of the Commission, under the facts herein stated, to grant the prayer of the petitions, but each of them, in addition thereto, made full answer. The record in the case shows the following facts:
The defendant, the Pennsylvania Company, admits that the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company and this defendant as its lessee, has maintained for more than forty years prior to December 30, 1909, a station at what is known as Grand Crossing in the city limits of the city of Chicago, for the accommodation of passenger and freight traffic.
That an ordinance was passed by the city council of Chicago September 29, 1902, requiring this defendant and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company to elevate their tracks from Seventy-third Street to Stony Island Avenue and the same ordinance required the elevation of the tracks lying parallel thereto of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company and the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, crossing the tracks of the said last above two named companies at Grand Crossing, so as to permit of the passage of streets and highways underneath the tracks of said several railroads and established a new grade of said three last mentioned railroads, at a height of not less than fifteen feet above the level or surface grade at which said companies were operating their railroads at the time of the passage of said ordinance.
That subsequently it became apparent to the mayor and city council of the city of Chicago, as well as to the railway companies concerned in such track elevation ordinances, that the dangers to the public were not obviated by merely separating the grades of the railroads and highways, but that by reason of the numerous tracks which would cross each other at the grade of the railways when elevated as proposed at Grand Crossing, it was a public necessity to separate the grades of the railroads crossing each other at Grand Crossing.
That after long negotiations between the officials of the city of Chicago and the railway companies, an ordinance was finally passed by the city council of the city of Chicago on June 28, 1909, which was accepted by all the railway companies concerned, as a substitute for the ordinance of September 29, 1902, and which ordinance of June 28, 1909, not only provided for a separation of the railway and street grades, but also provided for the separation of the railway grades as between themselves; that such proceedings were had between the railway companies by arbitration as resulted in agreements whereby the Illinois Central Railroad Company was given the lower level and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company and the Pennsylvania Company were compelled to take the higher level, while the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company secured a new right-of-way and passed underneath the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and above the streets and underneath the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and joined the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway at a point west of Grand Crossing on the north side of the right-of-way of the last mentioned company.
That in pursuance of such ordinance, the work of elevating all said railway tracks and separating the grades of the street crossings and the railways and the grades of the railways as between themselves, was completed in the year 1912 at an expense to the last mentioned railway companies of a sum of money exceeding $3,000,000, at the sole cost and expense of said four railway companies, in the proportions fixed by the arbitrators, neither the city of Chicago nor the State of Illinois making any contribution to said cost, though the public gain thereby secured was very great.
wanswheel That in pursuance of such ordinance, the work of elevating all said railway tracks and separating the grades of the street crossings and the railways and the grades of the railways as between themselves, was completed in the year 1912 at an expense to the last mentioned railway companies of a sum of money exceeding $3,000,000, at the sole cost and expense of said four railway companies, in the proportions fixed by the arbitrators, neither the city of Chicago nor the State of Illinois making any contribution to said cost, though the public gain thereby secured was very great.
Johnny
Deggesty wanswheel: That in pursuance of such ordinance, the work of elevating all said railway tracks and separating the grades of the street crossings and the railways and the grades of the railways as between themselves, was completed in the year 1912 at an expense to the last mentioned railway companies of a sum of money exceeding $3,000,000, at the sole cost and expense of said four railway companies, in the proportions fixed by the arbitrators, neither the city of Chicago nor the State of Illinois making any contribution to said cost, though the public gain thereby secured was very great. Wow!
wanswheel: That in pursuance of such ordinance, the work of elevating all said railway tracks and separating the grades of the street crossings and the railways and the grades of the railways as between themselves, was completed in the year 1912 at an expense to the last mentioned railway companies of a sum of money exceeding $3,000,000, at the sole cost and expense of said four railway companies, in the proportions fixed by the arbitrators, neither the city of Chicago nor the State of Illinois making any contribution to said cost, though the public gain thereby secured was very great.
Hey, if they did that today, couldn't they use Stimulus money?
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter