Kankakee (Amtrak station)

Kankakee
Station statistics
Address	199 South East Avenue Kankakee, IL 60901
Line(s)	City of New Orleans   Illini and Saluki
Connections	River Valley Metro
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Other information
Opened	1898
Station code	KKI
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	24,067[1]  8.9%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Champaign–Urbana toward New Orleans City of New Orleans Homewood toward Chicago Gilman toward Carbondale Illini and Saluki     Former services     Illinois Central Chebanse toward New Orleans Main Line Bradley toward Chicago Central Station Gilman toward St. Louis St. Louis – Chicago Harvey toward Chicago Central Station
Illinois Central Railroad Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Kankakee, Illinois, USA
Coordinates	41°7′9.48″N 87°51′56.16″W / 41.1193000°N 87.8656000°W / 41.1193000; -87.8656000Coordinates: 41°7′9.48″N 87°51′56.16″W / 41.1193000°N 87.8656000°W / 41.1193000; -87.8656000
Built	1898
NRHP Reference #	00000409
Added to NRHP	April 28, 2000

The Kankakee Amtrak station is a train station in Kankakee, Illinois, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The station was built in 1898 as an Illinois Central Railroad depot, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since the year 2000.^[2] By the late 1980s, the depot had fallen into disrepair. The city purchased the building from the Illinois Central in 1990 and finished a full restoration eight years later. The $1 million project was funded with $750,000 in city funds and private donations.^[3]

The northern end of the station is home of the Kankakee Railroad Museum.^[4] The station is a flag stop for the City of New Orleans. In Steve Goodman's song (popularized by Arlo Guthrie), which shares its name with this line, the train departs the Kankakee Station.

History

The Illinois Central Railroad Company was founded in 1851. By 1853, newly founded Kankakee, Illinois was connected Chicago, 56 miles (90 km) away. The first train pulled into the station on July 11, 1853. The rail connection reduced the travel time between the two cities from six days by wagon to three hours by rail. It also provided Kankakee with access to industrial resources in the north-south direction; the city was no longer dependent on the east-west Kankakee River. Kankakee was incorporated two years later.^[5]

The original station was a small, wood-framed station. However, by the 1890s, it had fallen into disrepair and no longer conformed to city ordinances. The Illinois Central agreed to commission a new train station in 1897, which was completed the next year. The first train arrived at the new station at 7:30 a.m. on January 10, 1898. Frank Lloyd Wright traveled through the station on several occasions while designing two houses in Kankakee, remarking of the new building, "not a style of my choosing but good enough for the community."^[5]

Telephones were installed in 1902, replacing the original telegraph wires. These lines were moved underground in 1911. Rail use declined in the 1930s, coinciding with the Great Depression and the increased use of automobiles. Furthermore, the Kankakee Electric Railway Company, which provided interurban service to the station, went out of business in 1933. The station saw a resurgence in the 1940s during World War II, when personnel training at Chanute Field in Rantoul would come to Kankakee on leisure time. The station has remained in continuous use since 1898.^[5]

Bus Connections

River Valley Metro: - Routes 1, 7, & 8

References

External links

Media related to Kankakee (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Kankakee, IL
• Kankakee Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Kankakee (KKI)--Great American Stations (Amtrak)