Chicago Passengers Stations - Pre-Union Station

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know what station in Chicago would have been used by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad in 1873 (under lease by the Pennsylvania Central at the time, but still appearing separately in the Railway Guide).

This is prior to the construction of Union Station in 1881.

Thanks for your assistance on my previous post.

[Anonymous]

I haven't been able to find out what the building was, nor what it was named, but a map on pg. 28 of the July 2003 issue of Trains Magazine (an issue devoted entrirely to Chicago) shows the PFW&C terminating, by 1860, at the same location as Chicago Union Station. The map also indicated that the Joliet & Chicago (a predecessor of the Chicago & Alton) had its terminus there as well.

On pg. 29 of the same issue, the map for 1870 shows the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis terminating at the same location, but its line reaches the locale from the north. The latter road also was a Pennsy constituent, and this explains how the PRR reached the CUS locale from both south and north.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

PCC&StL (also known as the Panhandle) had a roundabout route into Chicago and has been abandoned almost entirely. It entered the Chicago area from the southeast, passed through Lansing, Dolton crossing, West Pullman, Brighton Park, Ash, plus other crossings and junctions, and swung east to enter Union Station from the north. The Bernice cutoff (SC&S) between Lansing and Colehour was built to connect with the PFW&C line and provide an entrance to Union Station from the south.