Old Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Passenger Station in WI

Racine Train Depot, Racine Wisconsin

Date added: January 27, 2024 Categories:

The Racine station of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad is one of the finest examples of non-residential Classical Revival architecture in Racine. Despite the alterations, none of which have been major, and its present boarded-up and unkept appearance, the grace and dignity of this building are still apparent. The use of brick on this building gives it less of the monumental appearance typically associated with Classical Revival architecture. Designed by the firm of Frost and Granger, of Chicago, in 1901, construction was completed in early September of 1902, for $60,000. Both Charles Sumner Frost (1856-1931) and Alfred Hoyt Granger (1867-1939) studied architecture at MIT. Frost was especially active in railroad terminal design, and his works include the LaSalle Street station, the Northwestern Terminal, and the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company general office buildings (all in Chicago), as well as Union Station in St. Paul and the Great Northern Railway station in Minneapolis. Granger's major works include the New Chicago Club and St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, the U. S. Soldier's Howe Hospital in Washington, D. C., the Union and Administration buildings at Indiana University, and the Winnebago County Courthouse in Oshkosh.

This successful partnership lasted from 1898 to 1910, during which the Racine station of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad was planned and built. Among Wisconsin buildings credited to the firm are depots at Watertown (1903), Ashland (1900), Oconomowoc (1896), Lake Geneva (1891), and South Milwaukee (1893).

Building Description

The Racine passenger station of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, located at 1402 Liberty Street, is a one-story building in a Classical Revival style, approximately 35 x 163 feet, with its long axis nearly perpendicular to State Street (north-northwest). Attached to this main structure, on its west facade, is a covered passenger platform approximately 20 x 450 feet, of frame construction. Directly opposite this, across the double tracks, is a one-story covered passenger platform, the center of which is a brick waiting room. The main building is built of red brick with cut limestone trim, and all roofs are of slate.

The main terminal building is composed of a large central section, flanked by smaller wings at both north and south ends, with a still smaller wing attached to the southernmost end. There is a large rectangular limestone plaque with the inscription, "C & N-W RY," above the two windows in the northern wing's facade.

The east facade of the main terminal building is the most clearly Classical Revival of all the facades. The larger central section is divided into five bays by six piers, with each bay featuring a round arch window. There is a dentil molding, with two scroll brackets in each bay, in the cornice. Atop the piers at each end, a large carved limestone globe sits on the limestone-trimmed roof-line. The limestone watercourse is carried across this wing. On the extreme south of this facade lies the still smaller baggage room wing.

The south facade of the main terminal building features the roof-lines of the southernmost baggage wing, the south wing with its massive central chimney, and the larger central section.

The west facade of the main terminal building features an approximately 20 x 450-foot roofed passenger shelter with brick paving (the roof being supported by posts). The central section is, like the east facade, divided into five units, each with a round-arched window, by six piers. Of the second and fourth windows, only the fanlight section remains, visible above the passenger shelter roof-line; the lower parts have been replaced by smaller round arches containing fanlights, sidelights, and doors. The cornice detail of the west facade is identical to that found on the east facade.

Located directly opposite the main terminal building and its passenger platform is an open, one-story roofed passenger platform that, for the most part, is identical to the passenger platform across the tracks. However, instead of a main terminal building, a smaller, one-story waiting room building has been substituted. These two buildings are connected by a tunnel.

The Racine station of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad has been altered, but not in a significant way. The porte-cochere on the east facade of the north wing has been removed (10-15-48) and replaced by a small pent roof over the entrance. A skylight in the platform roof above the bay window of the north wing's west facade has been removed. In the southernmost wing's west facade, one of the small square windows was replaced by a double door in 1943. Large brick arches with stone trim, along with one bay, were removed from the ends of the covered passenger platforms in 1948.