Central Station (Chicago terminal)

Chicago Central Station
Intercity rail
Illinois Central Depot, c. 1901
General information
Coordinates	41°52′05″N 87°37′19″W / 41.86806°N 87.62194°W / 41.86806; -87.62194
Connections	Roosevelt Road station
Construction
Architect	Bradford L. Gilbert
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
History
Opened	April 17, 1893
Closed	March 5, 1972
Key dates
June 3, 1974	Demolished
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Homewood toward New Orleans Panama Limited Terminus Homewood toward St. Petersburg or Miami Floridian Homewood toward Cincinnati James Whitcomb Riley and George Washington Homewood toward Carbondale Shawnee Homewood toward Champaign–Urbana Illini Campus Preceding station Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Following station 63rd Street toward Cincinnati Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad 1907–1910 1925–1933 Terminus Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station 43rd Street toward New Orleans Main Line Terminus Hawthorne toward Sioux City Sioux City – Chicago Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station 63rd Street toward Buffalo Michigan Central Railroad Main Line (Until 1957) Terminus 63rd Street toward Cincinnati Chicago – Cincinnati Preceding station Soo Line Following station Schiller Park toward Superior Main Line (1963–1965) Terminus Altenheim toward Portal Main Line (Until 1912)
Location

Central Station was an intercity passenger terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, at the southern end of Grant Park near Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue. Owned by the Illinois Central Railroad, it also served other companies via trackage rights. It opened in 1893, replacing Great Central Station (on the site of the current Millennium Station), and closed in 1972 when Amtrak rerouted services to Union Station. The station building was demolished in 1974. It is now the site of a redevelopment called Central Station, Chicago.

Adjoining platforms at Roosevelt served the Illinois Central's suburban trains for both the Electric and West lines, in addition to the South Shore Line interurban railroad. All three lines continued north to Randolph Street.