Union Station, one of the last great train stations in America, rises in front of you. Chicago Union Station opened in 1925, the work of Daniel Burnham's firm completed after his death, built when Chicago was the undisputed railroad capital of the country, where nearly every line between East and West changed trains. Step into the Great Hall: a barrel-vaulted skylight soars 115 feet over pink Tennessee marble, brass lamps, and long wooden benches.
You may recognize the grand staircase from the famous baby-carriage shootout in the film The Untouchables. At its peak the station handled hundreds of trains and tens of thousands of travelers a day, including waves of Black families arriving from the South during the Great Migration. Notice the center of the Great Hall and the light pouring from the vault above — this room was built to make arrival in Chicago feel like an event.