Vacant land at Roosevelt and Clark

[snoylekim]

about 8-9 years ago ...

[linicx]

Mr Downtown, do you know anything about the old Chicago and Alton? To the best of my knowledge the route was between Chicago and St. Louis.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The land nearest the river was owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal, and served as approach tracks to Grand Central Station as well as freight houses, team tracks, and similar facilities. The land nearer Clark belonged to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the New York Central, and served similar functions for LaSalle Street Station. The line in between the two was not straight, and is best seen in the color maps that accompany
Chicago (Ill.). Citizens’ Committee on River Straightening. The straightening of the Chicago River. Press of James T. Igoe Co., 1926
such as this one:




Here's what it looked like as the river straightening neared completion in 1928:



The portion south of Roosevelt had a string of old tank cars on it as late as the mid 90s, probably so it could be claimed as railroad land for tax purposes.

The railroads expanded dramatically here in the 1880s-90s. Before that, part of this area was residential, some of it notoriously bad tenements housing Italian immigrants. But some portions had been used by the railroads since they arrived in the 1850s. The Rock Island, for instance, had a big grain elevator on part of the land in the 19th century. The Sanborn's Fire Insurance maps, available online through Chicago Public Library, show the details for various years.

[Mr Downtown]

What do you want to know about the Alton Road?

[Chicago60614]

I heard it was paved with gold

[imagawa]

Are there any plans for developing this land?

There's really a pretty amazing set of parcels along the east bank of the river, extending from Chinatown all the way to Harrison.

For an idea how skillful people-friendly development might look, Battery Park City a long the Hudson in lower Manhattan is't a bad example.

[Snowden Is Cold]

Originally Posted by imagawa

Are there any plans for developing this land?

I'm wondering the same thing. It seems so odd that there is that much vacant land so close to downtown.

I didn't know about the river straightening. Interesting.