Then & Now: Union Station – Joliet

The need for a new railroad station in Joliet was prompted by the relocation and elevation of street level railroad tracks in the downtown area. Civic and business leaders, together with various railroad companies, agreed to undertake the project to reroute and elevate their tracks in order to reduce congestion.

In Joliet, the idea for a new railroad station was not actually part of the original elevation project, but once ground was broken on the project on May 25, 1908, the construction of the station was hastened toward completion in conjunction with elevating the tracks downtown.

Union Station was designed and constructed between 1908 and 1912 at a cost of about $250,000. Jarvis Hunt, a nephew of the iconic 19th century architect Richard Morris Hunt, was the architect for the new structure.

Hunt launched his architecture career by winning the design for the Vermont State Building at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This was the first significant commission for the young architect from Vermont. Educated at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hunt chose to stay in Chicago after supervising the construction of the building.

Soon, Hunt was able to take advantage of Chicago’s building boom by starting his own firm, William Bosworth and Jarvis Hunt. Over the course of his career, Hung designed a wide array of buildings, including train stations, museums, naval station buildings, suburban estates, industrial buildings and clubhouses.

In Chicago, his best-known works are the American Trust and Savings Bank, the Lake Shore Club, the original group of buildings at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and the 900 North Michigan Avenue Building.

The Adam Groth Company of Joliet was the general contractor for Union Station. Groth, who was born in Germany, learned the cut stone building trade from his father, and arrived in Joliet and started his cut stone and contracting business in 1895. The Adam Groth and Company was known for its interior marble work as well as for its fine exterior cut stone. Much of the stone that Groth used came from Indiana and Minnesota, as well as Joliet quarries.

Groundbreaking for the construction of the new station was held July 31, 1911. The structure was designed by Hunt in a Neo-Classical Revival style using local Bedford limestone that was cut and polished by Groth. The two-story oblong hexagonal building faces the track intersection with flanking angled wings on each side. Stairs on either end of the station allow passengers to climb about 20 feet to the elevated level of the newly designed tracks

Street side the façade of the structure includes three great Romanesque-style windows perched above the three entry doors leading from the second floor waiting room to the open balcony facing the city. Similar Romanesque windows are repeated on the track side of the building, making the street and track facades symmetrical. Ornamental, flat-roof canopies can be found above the entry doors on both sides of the building.

Union Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

In 1991, the station was completely renovated as part of the City Center revitalization program. In September 2014, Union Station was closed to commuter traffic as Joliet began the first phase of the Gateway Transportation Center project.

A new train station is part of the Gateway Transportation Center project, which includes a bus station and converting the old Union Station for commercial uses. The entire project is estimated to cost more than $40 million dollars, with parts scheduled to be completed by summer 2016.