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William J. Manon Jr. | profile | all galleries >> Surviving Railroad Depots of America >> Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinios tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinios

The Depot in Freeport, Illinois (Stephenson County) that is listed as Illinois Central railroad was actually built by the Chicago & North Western Railroad. In the beginning it was just the C&NW, then the IC used it Jointly, then after the C&NW abandoned it’s line to Freeport the IC had it all to itself. I guess you could call it a union depot but if you compare it to other C&NW depots in the area, (Morrison, Dixon, Rochelle, DeKalb) the architecture is very similar.
Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinios.jpg
Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinios.jpg		 Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinois, After dark.jpg
Illinois Central Depot, Freeport, Illinois, After dark.jpg

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Betty 24-Oct-2016 19:47
Our family lived in the country of DuPage County. Or house was on south side of IL Central tracks and east side of Swft Road, back in the 1939s and 40s. Four of us kids never missed a time to be able to wave at the crew chugging past our house. Because we were next to the road, the train slowed near the crossing; so we got to see the engineer and fireman and conductor/ brakeman real close. They became our friends. Soon, they started to toss us the Chicago Newspapers. They always put candy or fruit rolled within the paper. One Christmas, a car pulled into the driveway. . It was the engineer and fireman with their wives. They brought us gifts and wanted to meet the kids who made their runs between Freeport and Chicago so special. They especially wanted to meet the "little one" with the big eyes. (Me!) I suppose my eyes almost popped from their sockets knowing treats were coming our way. I guess it being the depression and then war years, they could see that we were quite poor, but we were just so happy to be able to see them chugging by, that was a daily present to us. My brother Tom wrote to Mr. Stevenson and I wrote to Mr. Weber for a long time. Just thought I'd share this memory with you. Thanks for reading it.
Norm Alexander 13-Aug-2016 22:35
The Freeport depot was a C&NW-only facility (actually Chicago and Galena Union RR at the time) just a short while until the IC built into Freeport. The IC and C&GU entered an agreement where the C&GU would not build west of Freeport, as was its original plan, and the IC would build west of Freeport instead. The IC and C&GU (later C&NW) exchanged freight and passengers at Freeport until the IC built it's own line from Freeport to Chicago in 1888.

From the time the IC began operations in Freeport, these two railroads used the same joint depot, originally a frame structure on the same site the current brick depot occupies. The brick depot in the photos was built in 1890 by the C&NW, with the IC being a long-term tenant.

Interesting fact: In 1855, early after the IC began operations, Freeport was the busiest station on the entire railroad, even busier that the IC's station in Chicago. The IC was primarily as north-south railroad at that time but most of the region's traffic was moving east and west. 1855 IC passenger counts: Freeport: 73,590, Chicago: 22,135!
Michael G Jones 06-Apr-2015 20:59
I had a paper route in Freeport. Each weekday evening I got bundles of four Chicago newspapers dropped off by the Land O' Corn. I would deliver them to businesses in downtown Freeport. Those years would have been in the late 1950's.
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