I bought this old , possibly 1950's era postcard of Chicago Union Station many years ago at a local Stamp Collectors Flea Market show.The Main tall Union Station building with the Pillars and sign on the roof, still stands today on Canal Street in downtown Chicago Illinois. The smaller Concourse building alongside the west bank of the Chicago River, was demolished in 1969, and replaced by a tall glass skyscraper buiding known as the Gateway Center.
Chicago's Union Station is served daily by Metra commuter rail trains and Amtrak intercity long distance passenger trains today.
10 comments:
The modern looking building on the right side of the postcard is the old Florshein Shoe Office Building. Today it's been converted to condos.
Oh My gosh!
I remeber going to that same Florsheim shoe place with My Family back in 1975 when I was 13 Years old! Wow!
I also remeber eating at an old restaurant just east of there that had a Neon sign with a lighthouse on it called "Cohasset Punch".
Do You remeber "All Nations Hobby Shop"?
Old Downtown Chicago memorys!
Eddie K.
Unfortunately I didn't really get a chance to go downtown till the late '80's. Where was "All Nations Hobby Shop?"
I spent most of my time on Wabash in the bookstores. Sadly there all gone now, though I work on the block were Kroch's used to be
You will have to excuse Me.
I am 45 years old and have been occasionally going downtown since the 1960's. This "old Timer" vaguelly recalls the old All Nations Hobby Shop being located around Madison Street near the old NorthWestern Station. I believe that they went out of business around 1977 when their building was sold and demolished.
In the late 1970's to mid 1980's, there was a store located in the First Federal Savings Bank Plaza on Madison street called "Downtown Hobbies". Around 1986 they moved to Northwest Highway in Chicago's Norwood Park neighborhood, and are now known as Chicagoland Hobby.
Thank You.
Eddie K.
Eddie,
Thanks for the update. I'm only "little" younger being 41 but I didn't get a chance to go downtown until I was in my late teens.
I have visited Chicagoland Hobby.
Ken
Thanks Ken.
It is great hearing from You.
I enjoy all the important viewer input that comes from fellow railfans and historians like Yourself and a few others.
It don't matter how young or old You are...If You come from Chicago like We do, there will always be a story or two to be shared.
Please stay in touch buddy.
Thank You.
Eddie K.
In the 1960's my beautiful young wife went to work for the CB&Q Reservations Bureau on an upper floor at Union Station. The clerks would sit around a giant oak desk with a telephone headset and spin wheels above the desk each with 90 days of train diagrams. The public and all agents on the GN, NP, and CB&Q had to call Chicago to reserve seats or first class sleeping car space.
Hi Terry!
I love it!!!
Man! That was life decades before the internet existed! And You thought that Gilligan's Island was a primative place. Ha ha ha!
Still, this was a very Exacting, Professional, and Efficient old school way of doing things. The best of all was that things did get done under those working conditions. Lots of Pride and Dedication at Union Station.
That was a refreshing piece of input.
Thanks Terry.
Eddie K.
I know someone who lives in the old Florsheim building! The condos are pretty nice, and very close to Union Station.
Me and My Family actually made a few vacation trips on the Amtrak trains operating out of Chicago Union Station during the 1970's. In June of 1971 shortly after Amtrak was formed..We rode to California on the San Francisco Zephyr, from 1973 to 1975...We took 3 vacations to Florida on the Amtrak Floridian. In Febuary of 1977, We went to New Orleans for a few days of Mardi Gras Fun on the Amtrak City of New Orleans, and in August of 1990, I travelled alone to Lancaster Pennsylvania on the Amtrak Broadway Limited.
I even rode a few pre and early Metra commuter trains from there as well during the 1980's.
Thank You.
Eddie K.
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