Wells Street Station

The Wells Street station was a station on the Chicago and North Western Railway in Chicago. The station was built in 1911 in favor of the Chicago and North Western Terminal abandoned. Today is located on the site of the station, the wholesale Building Merchandise Mart.

Location

The station was located north of the designated loop city center, in a block was bounded on the north by the Kinzie Street, on the west by the Wells Street, on the south by the Chicago River and the west by the Orleans Street. The station building was built at the Wells Street towards.

History

In the years 1852/1853, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad built a station on the corner of Wells Street / Kinzie Street on the north side of the Chicago River. To connect the station to the route network, designed by JD Perkins a pontoon or raft bridge over the Chicago River was built. The built of brick station had two floors and had a square plan with a side length of 13.7 meters. The main entrance was on the Wells Street. The spaces for cargo and baggage were towards the Kinzie Street. After the Wells Street stuffed and increased, the railway company was forced to make appropriate adjustments. So the building was expanded in the years 1862/1863 to a floor. Moreover, the building was extended at the side of the Kinzie Street to 9.1 meters. In the additional rooms offices of the railway company were accommodated.

This station was destroyed in 1871 during the Great Fire of Chicago. The Chicago and North Western Railway ( the successor to the 1865 adopted Galena and Chicago Union Railroad ) was built after an interim station made ​​of wood.

1880/1881 a new massive railway station was built by the company at the same location. Inaugurated on May 23, 1881 station was connected to the movable Kinzie Street railroad bridge with the remaining rail network. The station was at the time of its opening, the largest of the four stations in Chicago. For the first time the Chicago & Northwestern begin all passenger trains at a railway station in Chicago and let it end. The building, designed by William W. Boyington building combined Gothic and Greek elements. The station cost $ 250,000 and was built of red brick and gray sandstones. The five-storey building was at the Wells Street 57 meters, at the Kinzie Street 85 feet long and 24 feet high in the middle. The central clock tower reached a height of 57 meters. The station had 12 platform tracks.

Soon enough the train station no longer meet the requirements of the increased amount of people ( 1895: 200 trains per day with 32,000 passengers, 1905: 300 trains with 50,000 passengers ), so that the end of the 1890s south of the main building further additions were built.

Due to the increasing traffic on the rail and on the Chicago River, but it became increasingly difficult to handle the traffic via the folding Kinzie Street railroad bridge as scheduled. The buildings and structures no longer enough for the passengers. The C & NW built, therefore, on the west side of the Chicago River, a new railway station. The Chicago and North Western Terminal was opened in 1911. At the same time closed the passenger station in Wells Street. The freight was still maintained.

1930 Wholesale Merchandise Mart building was erected on the site of the station.