History
The original West Chicago station served the main line of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad which never reached its western terminus before being acquired by the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1864. The line became part of Metra during the 1980s.
In 1988, the West Chicago City Council announced plans to build a new commuter train station to replace a waiting room leased by the rail company at the West Chicago Community Center.
Metra budgeted $1.69 million for projects including the station building, new lighting, track drainage, and parking spaces for 200 cars. Metra allocated $235,000 of that funding to the station building. According to policy, Metra allocated only enough money to fund a standard commuter station. West Chicago added an extra $25,000 from the city's capital projects fund to alter the modern architectural style to a vintage, 19th-century look.
The station officially opened on July 14, 1990. The opening coincided with the city's annual "Railroad Days" celebration, celebrating West Chicago's heritage as a railroad town.
A new parking lot was opened in 2001 and added more than 170 spots, doubling the commuter parking available at the station. City officials had hoped that expansion would attract more traffic to the train station and bring commercial development to the nearby downtown area. The second lot is located east of the first lot, and started to provide daily parking at $1 per day. The original parking lot was changed to permit parking only.
Read more about this topic: West Chicago (Metra)
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