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Designed by architect Francis Bacon in 1898 for the Illinois Central
Railroad, this block-long Romanesque Revival-style train station was crowned
by a three-story clock tower. It was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1978, seven years after the final passenger train left
the station. After more than a decade of vacancy and a failed retail
development in the late 1980s, the site was purchased by the state and
occupied by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency throughout the 1990s.
In 2005, part of the final phase of the state’s Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum project called for the creation of a downtown visitor’s
center in the dilapidated railroad station. The $11.5 million rehabilitation
was completed in two years using federal and state appropriations.
The former station master offices on the upper floors are now occupied by
Lincoln Museum staff and other history-related organizations, while the
restored first floor waiting room serves as a tourist information office.
The 110-foot clock tower, which had been removed in 1946 after it was found
to be sinking, was re-engineered and rebuilt to properly carry the weight.
This project has received numerous industry awards for the outstanding
architectural, engineering, and preservation skills that were employed in
its rehabilitation.
Photos 1, 2: Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency; 3: (left) WBA Architects and (right) Landmarks Illinois; 4, 5, 6:
Terry Farmer Photography
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