The Itasca Depot

The Itasca Depot. . In 1841, Dr. Elijah Smith of New Jersey, Itasca's founding father, first came to the area which would one day become the Village of Itasca. On the initial leg of his journey, he experienced train travel as he went west to the city of Detroit. From Detroit, he booked passage on a boat to the young city of Chicago. There he bought a horse and rode it to the Itasca area. He liked what he saw and went back east to settle his affairs and brought his wife to their new home in Illinois. , , In 1872, Itasca, like other American communities, was connected to the outside world by roads traveled by people on horseback or in horse-drawn or ox-drawn wagons. In 1873, this would change. The year would mark the coming of the railroad to Itasca and things would never quite be the same for the agricultural community. , , When the Chicago and Pacific Railroad decided to lay tracks from Chicago to Savanna, Illinois, there was competition between the communities and businessmen of DuPage County as to where the tracks should be laid. Dr. Smith donated land to the railroad to entice them to lay tracks through his farm and spent $400 for construction of the Itasca Train Depot. A.G. Chessman, who would later become the first president of the Village of Itasca in 1890, erected the depot in 1873. , , Before the arrival of the railroad, a trip to Chicago from Itasca would take about a day on horseback or two days by ox-drawn wagon: the train now only took one hour! The depot soon became the hub for a number of businesses, including the Hendricks Brother's cheese and butter factory, a glue factory, and Chessman's gristmill. Two railroad sidings. that allowed trains to park and pass, were installed to service some of the businesses of Itasca. This would change the farming community into an agricultural processing center. The Itasca Depot served as an active rail station from 1873-1976, (103 years). Over those years, the depot witnessed many changes: the original arched windows were removed and replaced with rectangular windows; doors were closed off; the passenger waiting room and cargo room were reversed; the ticket window was relocated, and more. , , In the mid-1970s, a new depot was constructed adjacent to the original which was slated to be demolished in 1976. The Itasca Historical Society saved the building from its fate. On October 9, 1976, the old wooden structure was moved with a police escort 864 feet to its current location. Following another transformation and for the next 30 years, the Itasca Depot became the home of the Itasca Historical Depot Museum, a cooperative venture between the Itasca Historical Society, Itasca Park District, and Village of Itasca. , , By 2009, the Itasca Depot had begun to severely deteriorate. Over three semi-truck loads of archives and artifacts were removed and placed into storage. In 2011, while an aggressive review of the building took place, the Itasca Park District proposed a $540,000 project to restore the 1873 landmark. The restoration took over two years to complete and was funded through the joint partnership of the Itasca Park District and Village of Itasca, along with key sponsorships from the Itasca Bank and Trust Fundraising Campaign, Itasca Lions Club, Itasca Community Library, Itasca Historical Commission, Itasca Historical Society, and many other friends of the depot. It was dedicated on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - the Itasca Depot's 140th Anniversary. , , Today the Itasca Depot is the oldest publicly owned building in Itasca and home to the Itasca Historical Depot Museum. The museum is operated by the Itasca Park District in a joint partnership with the Village of Itasca, Itasca Community Library, and Itasca Historical Society. It will serve as a place where the history of Itasca and the railroad will be told for years to come.