DG 'Rusty' Alderson,
TOAST President
Mostly 1830 -1930
Rusty's
All American
Stories
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Not an official Metra Site
Gilded Age & Train Historian
Train Railfan
Historical Characters, Lincoln Family,
Frontier Arizona, Early Railroads
TOAST email: GAstorybook@gmail.com
"Just Beyond the Rails"
Geneva to Chicago
Geneva - First Commuter RR
1853
Galena and Chicago Union RR
Laid first tracks west of Chicago
through Oak Park, Wheaton
and stopping temporally at the
The Junction (today's West Chicago.
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Instead of building west and then northwest at DeKalb or Dixon,
builth to Elgin and then to Rockford
(but not to St. Charles).
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Elgin and Rockford had given the RR money to build through their towns. But St Charles refused.
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Geneva's
In the 1850's with talk of a west transcontinental railroad to California,
the Galena and Chicago Union laid tracks over the Fox River through Geneva all the way to the Mississippi River. The Civil War held up expansion, but the railroad, now the Chicago & North Western, reached Council Bluffs.
When the Central Pacific and Union Pacific joined rails in Promentory Point Utah, the Gold Spike Ceremony, the rails running through Geneva became the fastest and most direct route between Chicago and California.
Historic Rails
Geneva
This Geneva Depot served passengers 1893 - 1959.
Other Geneva Depots
theodore roosevelt
TRACK ANXIETY
The current railroad bridge over the Fox River was built in 1906. Built to handle 4 sets of tracks, apparently it only had 3 sets of tracks, then was reduced to two. Currently, the bridge will be back to 3 sets of tracks soon.
Main and most direct route
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Chicago to San Francisco
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more later
The Illinois State Training School was an institution for “wayward” girls in Geneva, Illinois. Built around the turn of the century, it was in operation into the 1970s.
Many of its alumni describe it not as a school but rather as a cruel prison, with locked doors and bared windows.
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It was located 1/8 mile south of the tracks off of Rt. 25.
Approaching West Chicago
UP Auto Yard
UP Belvedere Spur
Rockford
St Charles
West Chicago
Pickle Factory
Two Stations
mini loco
West Chicago
William Ogden
Turner Junction
First community in Illinois to be established by railroads
#20 Fortune's Best Cities for Families
West Chicago
John W. Gates grew up in a small farm in West Chicago. He made a fortune in barbed wire, steel, and oil. He established the Texas Oil Company (Texaco) and became it's largest stockholder.
His wife's brother and niece, Col. Baker and Dellora Angell (who married Lester Norris), inherited his massive fortune using it for St. Charles' benefit.
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W. Chicago did not get a 'dime'.
West Chicago
Canadian National
Union Pacific
This is the last operating tower on the EJE System (now Canadian National) and is still manned 24/7. Union Pacific won't let them close this tower. Train traffic: Canadian National about 30; Union Pacific over 100 per 24 hours.
Winfield
Cantigny
Morton Arboretum
Wheaton
Chicago Golf Club
First 18 hole golf course in the United States and still rated as one of the top 100 courses in the world.
Naperville Running Club Wheaton
Starting in Wheaton
South of Tracks
The steam powered Chicago & Northwestern and electric powered Chicago, Aurora and Elgin tracks paralleled each other beginning in Wheaton into Chicago. Although both railroads issued memos forbidding engineers not to race each other, those memos were ignored.
Glen Ellyn
Freight Train Wreck
In May 1976, a rail failed causing one freight train to clip another causing a hazmat and numerous injuries. Two of the train crew involved in the wreck enjoy a beverage every Thursday at Geneva's Third Street Station Bar & Grill.
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Lake Ellyn
JJ Mike Pix
Glen Ellyn
Villa Park
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Ovaltine was manufactured
in Villa Park from 1917 until 1988.
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The building once stood on the north side of the tracks.
Elmhurst
The Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Company quarry viewed from the east in December 1967. The company began excavating the quarry at the northeast corner of First Street and West Avenue in 1883. The quarry was mined until 1992, when DuPage County purchased it for use as a floodwater reservoir.Feb
Elmhurst College
O'Hare
Butch O'Hare, killed in WWII,
was the son of an Al Capone associate. Butch's father always want the best for his son. The U.S. Navy's first
Medal of Honor recipient
was also honored in 1949 when the city retired the name "Orchard Field Airport (ORD) and renamed the airport O'Hare.
Proviso Yards
Chicago & North Western opened the yard in 1929 and after which it was touted as
the largest such facility in the world.
Maywood
Forest Park
Forest Park
About 3,500 graves at the Forest Home and Concordia cemeteries had to be moved to make way for the Congress -now Eisenhower- expressway, delaying construction and pushing up costs. Planners talked about elevating the highway above the graveyards, but decided that would be too expensive. Many of the bodies moved at Forest Home were victims of the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The Junction Forest Park
CTA GREEN Line
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Congress Expressway
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Oak Park
Home of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Unity Church can be seen from the tracks
Frank Lloyd Wright's son invented Lincoln Logs
Garfield Park Conservatory
One of the largest and most stunning botanical conservatories
in the nation.
Chicago Stadium
Chicago
In 1984, the head house was razed and replaced with the glass-and-steel 42-story Citicorp Center (now 500 West Madison),
which was completed three years later in 1987.
CNW Waiting Room 1912
Olgivie Transportation Center
cable cars
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C A & E near quincy station
Geneva Railroad Line
Historical Significance
The Galena & Chicago Union RR (Galena) laid the first tracks out of Chicago. At Junction (now W. Chicago), the tracks turned north crossing the Fox River at Elgin, then
continued to Rockford.
With talk of a transcontinental railroad, the Galena RR then laid tracks from Junction west over the Fox River reaching Geneva in 1853.
The railroad continued building to the Mississippi River. During this period the Galena RR was absorbed by the newly formed Chicago & North Western.
After building the bridge over the Mississippi, it leased an Iowa railroad that eventually connected with the Union Pacific at Omaha.
When the transcontinental railroad between Omaha and Sacramento was completed in 1869, Geneva was on the preferred route for travelers heading to the Pacific Ocean.