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Freight Tunnels * USA - The History of Chicago's ones
(This 1910 postcard photo shows the intersection of Dearborn and Randolph Streets. Downtown Chicago was once much busier than it is today and streets were typically clogged with streetcars, automobiles, horse drawn wagons, horses, and pedestrians. Few of the people in this picture knew about the little narrow gauge electric railroad that was being constructed forty feet under this chaos. It is interesting to note that the green Chicago Railways streetcar on the left ran until the early 1950's. )USA -users.ameritech.net -6 March 2008: -- (SEE A world without trucks ? * USA - Pneumatic cargo transport If water, sewage, gas and oil can be transported through underground pipelines, why not consumer goods as well? 5/03/08) ... Construction on Chicago's unique freight tunnel network began in 1899 in the basement of a tavern in the heart of the Loop near LaSalle and Madison Streets. Workers dug a small access tunnel from the basement down to the center of the intersection forty feet below grade. There, they continued to carve tunnels by hand out of the blue clay under nearly every street in downtown Chicago. Excavations were quietly removed through the tavern and other small access tunnels during the night. Forms were put in place and the tunnels were lined with non-reinforced concrete about one foot thick. The finished tunnels were roughly six feet wide by seven and a half feet high...
Chicago Tunnel Company System Map
Chicago Tunnel Company System Map
It is almost beyond comprehension, but the Chicago Tunnel Company had an extensive network of nearly 60 miles of tunnels under nearly every street of the downtown area. Over the years, the system shrank due to construction of the State Street Subway, the Dearborn Street Subway, and the Kennedy Expressway. Nevertheless, the system consists of over 40 miles of tunnels today... The map right is rather crude, but it gives a basic idea as to really how big the system was. There is a highly-detailed poster-sized map available through this website showing the tunnels as they exist today. Visit the Railroad Freight House for details... It is interesting to note that the Illinois Tunnel Company constructed a few hundred feet of unconnected tunnels south of 16th Street between State and Clark. For some unknown reason, these tunnels were never connected to the rest of the system and they were sealed off from the surface shortly after they were built. I often wonder what was left behind in these tunnels. Perhaps antique construction tools, old oil lamps, or who knows?
(This 1920's photograph shows a locomotive, a merchandise car and some visitors at the intersection of State and Madison. This location was completely obliterated during construction of the State Street Subway in the late 1930's. The subway helped ruin the company)
(This 1920's photograph shows a locomotive, a merchandise car and some visitors at the intersection of State and Madison. This location was completely obliterated during construction of the State Street Subway in the late 1930's. The subway helped ruin the company)Labels: freight tunnels
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