May 16, 1925: Chicago Union Station Opens

May 16, 1925: Chicago Union Station -- now its official name, not just "Union Station" -- opens, replacing an earlier station that had been on the site since 1881. It is the most important ground transportation hub in the Midwestern United States.

The station is to the west of the Chicago River, across from the area ringed by elevated railways and thus known as "The Loop." This has led to an oddity: There is no elevated, or "L," station at Union Station. The closest is 3 blocks away, a Blue Line station at Clinton, under the Eisenhower Expressway.

Originally, the station was served by 4 railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran to the East, including the Broadway Limited to and from Pennsylvania Station in New York. To the west ran the Chicago and Alton Railroad; the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, a.k.a. The Milwaukee Road; and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, a.k.a. the Burlington Route.

The Alton Railroad went down through Illinois, and into Missouri at St. Louis, then crossed Missouri to Kansas City. The Burlington Route extended as far west as Denver, and featured the Zephyr train, predecessor of today's Amtrak California Zephyr to Emeryville, in the East Bay near Oakland. As its name suggests, the Milwaukee Road went north to Milwaukee, then west to St. Paul, accessing Minneapolis, before heading across the northern plains and the Rocky Mountains to Seattle.

The Great Hall

As with all the other great rail terminals in America, the post-World War II rise of the automobile hurt its usage. In 1947, the Alton Railroad was merged into the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. In 1972, it was bought by the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1998, the Illinois Central was bought by the Canadian National Railway.

In 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad, becoming Penn Central. In 1976, it was still bankrupt, and reorganized into Conrail. In 1970, the Burlington Route merged with the Northern Pacific Railway and the Great Northern Railway, to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1996, the BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). In 1986, the Milwaukee Road was bought by the Canadian Pacific Railway. By that point, all of these railroads were freight only.

In 1971, Amtrak took over national passenger service. In 1975, Amtrak copied the New York Central's 20th Century Limited, which had run from Grand Central Terminal to Chicago's LaSalle Street Station from 1902 to 1967, and created the Lake Shore Limited, running it from Grand Central to Chicago Union. In 1991, Penn Station became its New York terminus.

Metra, short for "Metropolitan Rail," took over commuter service in Chicago on June 8, 1984. Its trains  leave Union Station and go as far southwest as Joliet, as far west as Aurora, as far northwest as Fox Lake, and as far north as Kenosha, Wisconsin. It operates commuter lines out of other Chicago stations as well: Ogilvie Transportation Center (just 2 blocks north of Union Station), the new LaSalle Street Station, and Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station). 

Chicago Union Station has proven to be a popular filming location for movies and television, including such films as The Sting in 1973, Silver Streak in 1976, The Untouchables in 1987, and Man of Steel in 2013. Renovations were made in 1990 and 2019. As of 2022, it is the 4th-busiest train station in the U.S. The 3 ahead of it are all in New York City: Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, and Jamaica Station in Queens.

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May 16, 1925 was a Saturday. It rained in Chicago the day that Union Station opened, and so the Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics could not play at Comiskey Park. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 15. The A's swept, 9-7 and 11-5. The Chicago Cubs lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-3 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Babe Ruth was ill, and Lou Gehrig was still on the way up, and each had yet to make his major league season debut. But Bob Meusel hit 2 home runs, and Aaron Ward added 1. Urban Shocker went the distance for the win. Ty Cobb, by this point also the manager of the Tigers, went 1-for-3.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known during Wilbert Robinson's managing, 1914 to 1931) beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Ebbets Field. Zack Wheat went 1-for-4. Rogers Hornsby went 4-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs, to no avail.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Braves, 7-5 at Braves Field in Boston. The Pirates scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th, and the Braves could score only 1 in the bottom half.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at League Park in Cleveland. Walter Johnson went the distance for the win. Goose Goslin hit a home run. Tris Speaker, manager of the Indians, did not put himself into the game.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Gene Robertson hit 2 home runs, including a 3-run homer that won the game in the bottom of the 10th inning. George Sisler went 1-for-5.

Also in the world of sports, Nílton Santos was born. Perhaps the greatest defender in the history of Brazilian soccer, he played for Rio de Janeiro team Botafogo, whose stadium is named for him. He helped Brazil win the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.