So, I used to think that the old Millennium Station, formerly known as Randolph street, was entirely outside before the 2005 remodeling. However, I talked to my uncle who used to take the Metra Electric/IC and I learned that only South Shore Line platforms were outside. The rest of the station was still underground. He even pointed out that canopy over the entrance steps is exactly the same as he remembers. However, I cannot find any pictures of the old underground station. I can only find pictures of the outside south shore line platforms. What did the old underground station look like and do any any pictures of it exist?
Do any pictures of the old Randolph street Station exist?
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NS VIA Fan
Conductor
Here's a couple of pictures from January 1983:
MikefromCrete
Engineer
I've been checking around the internet and I don't really see any Randolph St. station photos before the latest refurbishment. I've used Randolph St. for more years than I can count and I never took a photo there! The station just isn't very photogenic. My early memories of the place, from the 1950's, include a large floral shop, an ahead-of-its-time Juice bar (which sold a large menu of fruit drinks including one called the Panama Limited), newsstand and a couple of dark bars that I was much too young to patronize. At one point after Metra took over the operations in the 1980's the station sprung all kinds of leaks, particularly from the city-owned Randolph St. bridge over head. All the concessions were closed and cleared out. The place looked like an unfinished basement for a decade. When the leaks were plugged and Metra got around to refurbishing the place, it looked great.
Now the IC/Metra Electric platforms are not very scenic. Just high level platforms in a basement like a subway station.
There really is no "outside" views of the station since it's all underground. There's just the classic entrance on Randolph just west of Michigan Avenue near the former public library, now cultural center. There used to be a giant outdoor newsstand here, selling every kind of magazine known to mankind. The only other entrance is a side door on the lower level of the Prudential Building. Randolph St. has always been a utilitarian kind of place. I guess it never attracted photographers.
Now the IC/Metra Electric platforms are not very scenic. Just high level platforms in a basement like a subway station.
There really is no "outside" views of the station since it's all underground. There's just the classic entrance on Randolph just west of Michigan Avenue near the former public library, now cultural center. There used to be a giant outdoor newsstand here, selling every kind of magazine known to mankind. The only other entrance is a side door on the lower level of the Prudential Building. Randolph St. has always been a utilitarian kind of place. I guess it never attracted photographers.
brianpmcdonnell17
Conductor
Those aren't the only two entrances. There's also an entrance at the north end of the Metra platforms. Additionally, there is another entrance at the northwest corner of Michigan and Randolph which feeds into the same hallway as the other entrance at that intersection.
Also outdoors-- some brief video from my dad's 8mm film shot from the south end of one of the platforms.
Chicago Electrics 1954
Chicago Electrics 1954
How lucky you were to have a railfan father...mine had absolutely no interest in trains...
Maybe not rail photographer's, but when I used to go there frequently, in the late '60's and early '70's, there was a 'street photographer', named "Bill", who used to hang out around that entrance, with the classic neon sign reading: "To Illinois Central Electric Trains"....He would use his press type camera to shoot portraits of passersby, and hand them a business card with info for ordering a print and thank them if they accepted it....wonder whatever happened to him?
Another 'lost art' of a bygone era...
Here's a remnant of the sign that hung above the stairway....
https://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=86805a03-548f-49c8-8ffc-31de875e3360&gid=3
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My dad took an interest when he was five years old and toured the all-new (heavyweight) Portland Rose with his family. He also can remember his first trip from Portland to San Francisco because the train was car-ferried across the Carquinez Straight. He remembers riding with his mother from Portland to Salem on the Oregon Electric. In WWII he was one of the GI's who enjoyed being shipped around the country on lines that he otherwise never would have ridden! In the late 1940's and early 1950's he went on a lot of last runs and being interested in urban politics began to realize that some of those should have been saved and renovated as suburban lines.How lucky you were to have a railfan father...mine had absolutely no interest in trains...
As both his parents came from Indiana he made several rail trips there from Oregon and that put him through Chicago. Being what used to be called a 'juice fan' he made sure to ride the big Chicagoland interurbans. As a newsdealer he also called on the papers there and so we wholesaled both the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Tribune. The News came by rail. We tried the Tribune by air but it was United and the service was so poor that we switched to rail.
When I finally got to Chicago in 1967 I rode the IC Electric to Blue Island. I had just missed it because of trying to figure out the new magnetic fare cards and the gateman told me to catch the Matteson Express to 115th St/Kensington and transfer. I did as he suggested and it worked perfectly (Blue Island trains made all stops). It became one of the inspirations for Denver RTD's cross-platform transfers at I-25 & Broadway.
A subject worth studying is how ideas and ways of doing things spread. Chicagoland has had more than its share of faults but it also has been influential in a number of fields. It's partly geography but perhaps also because it's not as complex as NYC.
NorthShore
Conductor
So, as I recall, the history here comes in stages. The Randolph street three level bridge/viaduct wasn't always there. And the real enclosures of commuter trains wouldn't have occurred until air rights were granted for Illinois Center. I have seen a photo of the little terminal entrance from the north end of the tracks that existed decades ago.
Likely, one of the best ways to go about seeking information about this history is through Central Electric Railfans Association. I wouldn't be surprised if there was history on it all in First amd Fastest traction magazine, either. There have been some oldtimers who have put up their old transferred slides on web sites. Also search out the work of local transit historian Bill Shapotkin.
Likely, one of the best ways to go about seeking information about this history is through Central Electric Railfans Association. I wouldn't be surprised if there was history on it all in First amd Fastest traction magazine, either. There have been some oldtimers who have put up their old transferred slides on web sites. Also search out the work of local transit historian Bill Shapotkin.
I finally found one. And it's for sale on ebay: 1951 Press Photo Randolph Street Station Chicago - nee54560 | eBay
From the looks of the above photo, it could be from 1966 when the IC installed the Automatic Revenue Collection System, as explained in this article...
https://www.chicagorailfan.com/farearcs.html
MikefromCrete
Engineer
That looks to be the South Water Street entrance at the north end of the Randolph St. terminal. This was before the construction of the Illinois Center complex which completely covered the platforms.
MikefromCrete
Engineer
It was probably a news picture of the first days of the fare gates.
That looks like it. The building in the upper left diagonally across from the station entrance appears to match the building currently at the NE corner of S. Water St. and Michigan Ave. and although the lower floors have been extensively changed, the window pattern on the 3rd floor matches what's there today (Google Maps) (but note that it's now the 2nd floor as the streets have been extensively changed with the building of the lower level streets).
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