Two stone boulders

I've waited too long to hear the real story

05/30/2010 3:03 PM

By Bonnie McGrath

5 Comments - Add Your Comment


The two boulders in Grant Park (photo by Bonnie McGrath)



Ok, I give up! What are those two huge rough rocks doing in the middle of the southeastern-most field of Grant Park? You know, those two hefty pieces of gray stone between 11th Street and Roosevelt--and Michigan and Indiana. I have heard for years that they were a part of the old Illinois Central Railroad Station that stood at the foot of Roosevelt before there was a Museum Campus and a Central Station and a Museum Park. Torn down in the 70s, after it closed in 1972, it was a grand old station in Chicago that I used to ride to college in Urbana from in the 60s. It was built in 1893.


But what part of the station--if any--are those two boulders from? The footings? The curbstones? The actual walls surrounding the station? And why are they stashed there without explanation?

Please advise--anyone who knows!


5 Comments - Add Your Comment



By David L from South Loop
Posted: 06/17/2010 11:01 PM

"So, David L., any idea how they ended up in the park across the street? what's the story there? I do hope you know that, too!" "Across the street"? Perhaps you are assuming that the cars in the photo are on 12th Street (Roosevelt). They aren't. 12th Street was behind the station in the published photo. The cars are in a pick-up, dropp-off lane for the station. The photogaphers back was to the Rosenberg fountain. The stone blocks actually didn't move more than twenty feet.


By Bonnie McGrath from South Loop
Posted: 06/10/2010 3:43 PM

So, David L., any idea how they ended up in the park across the street? what's the story there? I do hope you know that, too!


By David L from South Loop
Posted: 06/10/2010 3:13 PM

They are often referred to as the "Cornerstones" of the station. THat is only half correct. More precisely they are the base stones for the arch that you see in the photo of the old station. One of the stones has three finished sides and it functioned as the base stone for the right side of the arch and it also became the cornerstone for the North-West corner of the building. The second stone has only two finished sides and was the base of the left side of the arch.


By frankie from logan
Posted: 06/02/2010 11:24 AM

ask geoffrey baer @ wttw / chicago tonight.


By Paul from Wrigleyville I
Posted: 05/30/2010 5:58 PM

It looks to me like two of the stone blocks that made the arch at the front of the bilding. My first job was in that building.