Ogilvie Transportation Center

Old CNW Terminal ca. 1912

The Chicago and North Western Railway built the Chicago and North Western Terminal in 1911 to replace its Wells Street Station across the North Branch of the Chicago River. The new station, in the Renaissance Revival style, was designed by Frost and Granger, also the architects for the 1903 LaSalle Street Station.[2]

The Tyler & Hippach Mirror Company Factory was moved 168 feet east and 52 feet south to make room for the station's construction.[3] At the time, this was the largest building ever moved.[4]

The station's 16 tracks were elevated above street level and "reached by six approach tracks and sheltered under an 894-foot-long [272 meter] Bush train shed."[2] The upper level of the head house housed a concourse and other facilities for intercity passengers, including "dressing rooms, baths, nurses and matrons rooms, and a doctor's office."[5] The centerpiece of the upper level was a stately waiting room, measuring 201 by 202 feet (34 by 62 meters), and rising 84 feet (approx. 26 meters) to its barrel-vaulted ceiling.[2] In addition to the main concourse on the upper level, there was a street-level concourse for commuters.

A C&NW passenger train at the station in July 1964.

During the heyday of rail travel, the Chicago and North Western Terminal was home to the C&NW's trains to Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St Paul, Madison and other cities of the upper Midwest, including the railroad's premier 400 series of trains. Until October 30, 1955, it was also the Chicago terminus of the trains the Union Pacific ran in conjunction with the C&NW, including the Overland Limited and the famed City trains(City of San Francisco, City of Los Angeles, Portland Rose). Other less famous trains such as the Corn King Special(Omaha), Viking (Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Minneapolis/St Paul), and Columbine (Denver).In 1939, there were 38 inter-city departures each business day.[6]

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. Metra service was maintained with only minor interruptions during construction–following the example of the demolition and replacement of New York Penn Station.

Rehabilitation progress in 1994

In 1991 Metra purchased the train shed from Chicago and North Western and conducted a survey to determine the condition. The examination included necessary repairs to improve its structural integrity and redesign measures to bring the station up to modern mass-commuting standards. After completing a thorough evaluation, Metra, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, and the Illinois Department of Transportation decided to completely replace the existing structure and in 1992, with the assistance of Federal funding, a contractor and management team were selected to begin the work.

Many engineering challenges had to be addressed and resolved, not only because of the train shed's prominent location but also due to its high traffic volume as it was to remain operational to 45,000 daily commuters during the project. Such challenges included the removal of original lead paint, the complete replacement of all 16 tracks which served 200 trains a day, extensive structural steel repairs (under load), erection of a new steel canopy, complete exterior masonry restoration, new electrical and plumbing systems, and construction of a new pedestrian concourse. During the rehabilitation project, which lasted four years and cost $138 million, over 60 contractors spent more than 800,000 man-hours performing repairs and producing new construction.

The station was renamed the Ogilvie Transportation Center in 1997, two years after the C&NW merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. The station was named for Richard B. Ogilvie, a board member of the Milwaukee Road (the C&NW's rival and competing neighbor) and a lifelong railroad proponent, who, as governor of Illinois, created the Regional Transportation Authority, which is the parent agency of Metra. Many longtime Chicago-area residents still call it "North Western Station," and many longtime employees simply call it "CPT"–short for "Chicago Passenger Terminal."