Episode 1: All Aboard: Trains and the Immigrant/Migrant Experience in Chicago

Join us as we explore the people and places that make Chicago great. Explore Chicago's rich heritage of immigration and migration, and how newcomers made the city their own and influenced and changed its growth and future. This series is hosted by urbanologist Max Grinnell

Episode 1: All Aboard: Trains and the Immigrant/Migrant Experience in Chicago
In this episode, we'll take a look at how and why people arrived in the city of Chicago via train, how they influenced transportation in the city, and how the city was shaped by these new arrivals. 

Want to recreate this tour on your own? Here are the places we visited:

  • Illinois Central Station (now part of Grant Park) - Michigan and Roosevelt. Find the Langston Hughes poem just south of the skate park
  • 11th Street Bridge - 11th street, east of Michigan
  • Dearborn Station - 47 W. Polk Street
  • Grand Central Terminal (now an empty field, and some building projects in development) - southwest corner of Harrison and Wells
  • Quincy L Station - 220 S. Wells 
  • Union Station - 255 S. Canal Street