LaSalle Street
Platforms of LaSalle Street Station
General information
Location	414 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60605
Coordinates	(400 S/140 W) 41°52′32″N87°37′57″W / 41.87553°N 87.63239°W /41.87553; -87.63239
Owned by	Metra
Platforms	2side platforms, 3island platforms
Tracks	8
Connections	Chicago "L": BrownOrangePinkPurple atLaSalle/​Van Buren Blue atLaSalle CTA Buses ChicaGo Dash
Construction
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	October 10, 1852
Rebuilt	1903, 1981–1985, 2011
Services
Preceding station Metra Following station 35th Street towardJoliet Rock Island Terminus
Future services Preceding station Metra Following station Wrightwood towardManhattan SouthWest Service Terminus
Former services Preceding station Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Englewood towardColorado Springs Suburban Service Englewood towardJoliet Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Englewood towardNew York Chicago –Cairo Englewood towardCairo Chicago –Hammond Englewood towardHammond Chesterton Local Englewood towardChesterton Preceding station Nickel Plate Road Following station Terminus Main Line Englewood towardBuffalo Preceding station Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line 1904–1913 31st Street towardEvansville Chicago –St. Louis 1904–1913 31st Street towardSt. Louis
Track layout Legend 8 6 4 2 7 5 3 1 RItoJoliet This diagram: view talk edit
Location

LaSalle Street Station is acommuter railterminal at 414 SouthLaSalle Street in downtownChicago. First used as a rail terminal in 1852, it was a majorintercity rail terminal for theNew York Central Railroad until 1968, and for theChicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad until 1978, but now serves onlyMetra'sRock Island District. The present structure became the fifth station on the site when its predecessor was demolished in 1981 and replaced by the new station and the One Financial Place (now425 South Financial Place) tower for theChicago Stock Exchange. TheChicago Board of Trade Building,Willis Tower, andHarold Washington Library are nearby.

The first station on the site opened on October 10, 1852, with an extension of theChicago and Rock Island Railroad from 22nd Street.^[1][2] At this point, theNorthern Indiana and Chicago Railroad (future LS&MS) had a depot at 12th Street, alongside another Rock Island depot. In December 1866 a new station opened, and theMichigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad joined the Rock Island as a tenant.

TheGreat Chicago Fire of October 1871 destroyed the station, which was rebuilt shortly afterwards. The post-fire station was demolished to make way for a new station designed by the architectural firmFrost & Granger^[3] which opened July 1, 1903 and stood until 1981. This station was a set for Alfred Hitchcock's 1959North by Northwest, starringCary Grant andEva Marie Saint, and in the 1973 movieThe Sting starringPaul Newman andRobert Redford.

From its completion in 1882, theNew York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) ran over theLake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway from a junction atGrand Crossing neighborhood north to downtown Chicago, where it hadits own terminal south of LaSalle between 1892 and 1898. The LS&MS quickly gained control of the Nickel Plate, and later allowed it into its LaSalle Street Station as a tenant. In July 1916, the by-then New York Central sold the Nickel Plate to theVan Sweringens, but it continued to operate into LaSalle until the end of Nickel Plate passenger service.

From July 31, 1904, to August 1, 1913, trains of theChicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad also used LaSalle Street Station, which reached it via trackage rights on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific from Ashburn.^[4][5] During this period, the C&EI was operated by theSt. Louis–San Francisco Railway, which was itself controlled by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific from 1901 to 1916.

On January 18, 1957, trains of theMichigan Central Railroad began serving LaSalle, operating on theNew York Central Railroad'sLake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway from its former crossing atPorter, Indiana to Chicago. LS&MS and Michigan Central trains (both part of the New York Central system) last used LaSalle on October 26, 1968 (soon after the merger intoPenn Central); the next day, it began operation intoUnion Station via a connection inWhiting, Indiana and thePittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway.

Amtrak came into existence on May 1, 1971, taking over most intercity rail service across the nation. However, LaSalle was unaffected: Penn Central's services via former New York Central tracks had been relocated to Union Station as noted above. The Rock Island opted out of Amtrak and continued to operateintercity service in the form of theQuad Cities Rocket andPeoria Rocket, operating to Rock Island and Peoria, respectively. These final intercity trains serving LaSalle made their final trips on December 31, 1978, ending the station's role as a terminal for intercity passenger trains.

A connection atEnglewood Union Station was completed on October 15, 1971, to allow the Rock Island to also operate over the PFW&C to Union Station, but the failing Rock Island decided to continue using LaSalle. The Rock Island ended intercity passenger service in 1978, but continued operating its commuter trains until handing them to theChicago and North Western Railway in 1980. Only a year later, C&NW handed the former Rock Island commuter lines to the RTA's newly formed operating arm, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation. It became part of the RTA Commuter Rail Division, now Metra, in 1984.

From 1972–75 the Rock Island operated a restaurant called Track One, using two former railroad cars parked on track 1 at the station. The two cars, thedining carGolden Harvest and the club-loungePacific Shore, had previously served on theGolden State Limited.^[6][7]

In June 2011, TheChicago Department of Transportation opened the LaSalle/Congress Intermodal Transfer Center alongside the station as a bus terminal, to serve people transferring to CTA buses as well as Blue Line trains atLaSalle.^[8]

On Father's Day weekend in June 2017,Nickel Plate 765 became the first steam locomotive to enter LaSalle Street Station sinceSouthern Railway 4501 visited the station in 1973. The 765 pulled trips toJoliet, Illinois over Metra's Rock Island District dubbed theJoliet Rocket.^[9] One of the cars in this excursion train was the former New York Central observation carHickory Creek, a car built for the20th Century Limited, which hadn't been to the station since December 3, 1967.^[10] Of note, theHickory Creek was the last car on the final run of the20th Century Limited to leave LaSalle on December 3, 1967.

Although only Metra's Rock Island District trains now use LaSalle, additional service is planned. Metra's proposedSouthEast Service would terminate at LaSalle, and theChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) infrastructure improvement program would allow trains from Metra'sSouthWest Service to use the terminal.^[11]

LaSalle was aterminal for the following lines and intercity trains:

• Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (until 1978)
• New York Central Railroad (up to October 26, 1968)
• New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate)
• Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (July 31, 1904 to August 1, 1913)
• Michigan Central Railroad (part of the New York Central) (January 18, 1957 to October 26, 1968)

Among the most famous name trains that terminated at LaSalle were the New York Central's20th Century Limited from 1902 until 1967 and the Rock Island-Southern PacificGolden State Limited from 1902 until 1968.

LaSalle still servescommuter trains onMetra'sRock Island District. As of 2007, approximately 17,000 people boarded Metra trains at LaSalle each day.^[12] It is planned that, in the future, Metra'sSouthWest Service will be shifted from the Union Station to LaSalle Street.^[11] Additionally, the proposed MetraSouthEast Service would terminate at LaSalle if built.

CTA

• 1 Bronzeville/Union Station
• 7 Harrison
• 22 Clark (Owl Service)
• 24 Wentworth
• 36 Broadway
• 126 Jackson
• 130 Museum Campus (Summer Service only)
• 151 Sheridan
• 156 LaSalle

ChicaGo Dash

• Shuttle service between Downtown Chicago andValparaiso (Rush hour only)

• 
  The Chicago Stock Exchange/LaSalle Train Station as viewed from the Willis (Sears) Tower in July 2019
• 
  LaSalle Intermodal Transfer Center
• 
  Sign for LaSalle Street Station near LaSalle/Van Buren on theChicago "L" Loop
• 
  The Chicago Loop with the platforms and tracks of LaSalle Street Station visible in the foreground east of the Chicago River.Union Station and its tracks can be seen west of the Chicago River.

• PRR ChronologyArchived 2006-09-07 at theWayback Machine
• Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum – Railroad History Time Line

• Metra Rock Island District – Chicago LaSalle Station
• Vintage Depots – LaSalle Street Station in Chicago

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLaSalle Street Station (Chicago).

• Metra stations in Chicago
• Former New York Central Railroad stations
• Former New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad stations
• Former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad stations
• Union stations in the United States
• Clock towers in Illinois
• Charles Sumner Frost buildings
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1852

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