Old Chicago Public Library

Influenced by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the first permanent home of the Chicago Public Library was designed in the Beaux Arts style by the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge. It was constructed between 1893 and 1897 ...

Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum (CHM) is the city's oldest cultural institution. Founded in 1856 and incorporated in 1857 by an act of the state legislature, the Chicago Historical Society and its collection grew and opened its first building at the ...

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Depot

Completed: 1905

The construction of this building began in 1904 following an agreement in which the city of Red Wing provided trackage concessions and the railroad agreed to construct this depot and donate money toward construction of Levee Park. This ...

Chicago Railways Company Date Stone

ca. 1908

This date stone came from the Chicago Railways Company "West Shops" complex located in Chicago at Maple and Harding Ave. Streetcars were built there and the shops survive to this day serving the Chicago Transit Authority. This stone was ...

Chicago and North Western 9933

1950 RDC-1 Rail Diesel Car

The self-propelled Rail Diesel Car (RDC) was introduced in 1949 as a low-cost alternative for branchline and commuter runs, available in five combinations of coach seating and baggage and mail space. Power was provided by two ...

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific 37A

1961 E9A Diesel-Electric Cab Unit

Along with long-distance passenger service from Chicago to Milwaukee, the Twin Cities, Omaha, and the Pacific Northwest, the Milwaukee Road also ran an extensive commuter service to Chicago's Western and Northern suburbs.

Electro-Motive's streamlined E-units, ...

Chicago's Passenger Stations

In the 1920's, Chicago had six major "steam road" passenger depots, along with numerous rapid transit and electric interurban stations.

The main building, or "headhouse," of only one of the six grand old stations (Dearborn) has survived, though for non-railroad use. ...

The Chicago Board of Trade's Statues

Symbolizing Agriculture and Industry

These two statues, one symbolizing agriculture and the other industry, once stood over the main entrance of the Board of Trade Building built in 1885. The statues greeted commodity traders and the public for 45 years. Thought ...

Chicago & North Western Railway Powerhouse

Foster & Granger, architects

Chicago Landmark

The Powerhouse is the best-surviving building associated with the Chicago and North Western Railway, one of the city’s most prominent historic railroads. While a utilitarian building, this grandly-scaled example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style ...

Chicago River

This river originally flowing eastward from the prairie home lands of the Potawatomi and other Indian tribes into Lack Michigan, linked the waters of the Atlantic, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes with those of the Illinois, the Mississippi ...