Explore the Impact of Railroads on Chicago its Suburbs

In the 19th century, Chicago was the center of a web of neighborhoods, farm communities, and industrial towns that were all connected to the city by railroad. Farmers used trains to transport produce into town daily, businessmen rode the rails home to their commuter suburbs, and families used the rails to visit idyllic locales just a few miles outside city limits for vacation.

On Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 2 p.m., the Elmhurst History Museum welcomes author and historian Dr. Ann Durkin Keating to shed light on this bustling network that defined greater Chicagoland. During the program, “Chicagoland: City and Suburbs of the Railroad Age,” Keating will focus on the landscapes and built environments of the metropolitan region—the farm centers, industrial towns, commuter suburbs, and recreational and institutional centers—that framed the city. Through an illustrated slide lecture including historical photographs and maps, Keating will share the collective history of these communities, the people who built them, and the structures they left behind that still stand today—the taverns, depots and way stations that were the hubs of the region’s vibrant, mobile life.

Dr. Keating is a professor of history at North Central College and author of the books “Chicagoland: City and Suburbs of the Railroad Age” (2005) and “The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire” (2019). She is also a coeditor of the acclaimed “Encyclopedia of Chicago,” the definitive historical reference on metropolitan Chicago.

The program takes place in the Elmhurst History Museum’s Education Center, located at 120 E. Park Ave. in downtown Elmhurst. Registration is required and can be made online at www.elmhursthistory.org (in the Adult Programs section) or by calling 630-833-1457. The program is free to members of the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation and $5 for non-members. Limited free parking is available on site.

This program is presented in conjunction with the Elmhurst History Museum’s current exhibit, “On the Right Track: By Rail to Chicago & Beyond.” The exhibit takes visitors on an interactive journey through 170 years of railroading history to learn how railroads carved out the suburban landscape as we know it today, and how people in the Chicago area experienced the railroad as both passengers and employees. Admission to the exhibit is free. The exhibit is open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For the more information, please visit www.elmhursthistory.org or call (630) 833-1457.