Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The grandeur and splendor of rail's past is captured in the historic Chicago Union Station, home to six commuter lines as well as Amtrak. Trains run seven days a week. The station opened in 1925 after 10 years and $74 million in the making, and provides today's visitors a glimpse of 1920s Chicago. Although the mezzanine level boasts numerous retail shops and restaurants, it is the 20,000-square-foot Great Hall on the concourse level that serves as the gem of the station and a favorite with Hollywood.
Ogilvie Transportation Center opened in 1911 as the Chicago and Northwestern Terminal. It once served some of the city's most prominent passenger lines. At the pinnacle of rail travel, the station offered travelers such amenities as dressing rooms and a physician's station, along with a spacious waiting area. Following a major transformation in 1992, the station was renamed the Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center after the former governor who championed mass transit. Today, the station serves three Metra lines and sees more than 40,000 commuters each weekday.
LaSalle Street Station has a history dating back to 1852. Fourteen years later, it was renovated and then rebuilt again in 1871 following the Great Chicago Fire. Another overhaul occurred in 1903 and the building stood until a new terminal was built under a Chicago Stock Exchange building in 1981. Today, LaSalle Street Station operates six days a week and is home to the Rock Island District line and brings passengers to Chicago's financial district.
About 20,000 passengers a day pass through the blue-tiled modern surroundings of the Millennium Station, situated below Millennium Park, one of Chicago's most popular attractions. Today's terminal serving the Metra Electric Line and Indiana's South Shore Line is a far cry from the station that occupied the area back in the 1860s on the shores of Lake Michigan, isolated from the rest of the city. The station went through several renovations over the decades before the modernized Millennium Station was dedicated in 2007.
In the heart of Chicago's spacious Grant Park lies Van Buren Street Station, the oldest building operating as a station serving the Metra Electric Line. The station's hallmark is one of its four entrances which duplicates an Art Nouveau-style Paris metro entrance, a gift from the city of Paris to Chicago. Ten thousand passengers each day pass through the station which serves Indiana's South Shore Line in addition to the Metra Electric Line.