Our Centennial Celebration

July 22, 2025 Event

For 100 years, Union Station has been bringing Chicago to the world and the world right back to Chicago. Millions of passengers from across the globe have passed through those halls over that time. Whether coming from near or far, each of them have been welcomed to our city by this incredible building.

Gov. JB Pritzker (center) was the featured speaker at the Centennial event to promote CHIP, the Chicago Hub Improvement Program. From left to right: Herbert Smith, Norfolk Southern Railway; Eleanor Gorski and Joan Johns, Chicago Architecture Center; Kirk Dillard, Regional Transportation Authority; Jim Derwinski, Metra; Gov. Pritzker; Bob Guy, SMART-Transportation Union; Jennifer “Sis” Killen, Cook County (for Board President Toni Preckwinkle); Jennifer Mitchell, Amtrak; Jeff Sriver, City of Chicago (for Mayor Brandon Johnson); Gia Biagi, Illinois Secretary of Transportation; Scott Lothes, Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Not shown: Peter Skosey, BNSF Railway; Rick Harnish, High Speed Rail Alliance.

Norfolk Southern and BNSF are successors to two of the original owners of the Chicago Union Station Company, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, which placed this advertisement in the Chicago (Daily) Tribune to mark the station dedication event on July 23, 1925, calling it “America’s Finest Railroad Terminal.”

To learn more about the first 100 years of Chicago Union Station, please see this Amtrak Fact Sheet and the articles in the Media section below.

Art Exhibit

Amtrak asked the Wisconsin-based Center for Railroad Photography & Art to curate a large scale art-exhibit using the many thousands of images in their collection. In addition to more than 50 images electronically displayed to guests in the Metropolitan Lounge in the station, eight large banners have been erected. Two of the banners are in the Great Hall, while another four are in the station’s central corridor, nicknamed “the breezeway,” that connects the Great Hall and the station Concourse.

Here is what the Center produced for Amtrak officials:

Chicago Union Station 100th Anniversary Banners, Prepared for Amtrak by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art

Main Banners: Great Hall

Great Hall banner design

Great Hall banner layout

Tall Banners: Amtrak Ticketing Hallway

Tall Banners

Tall banners, looking west

Tall banners, looking east

Media

Statements & News releases

Video of the news conference at the event at 1:00 p.m. CT on July 22, 2025

Text of Gov. Pritzker’s Prepared Remarks

State of Illinois News Release
Gov. Pritzker Celebrates Centennial of Chicago Union Station

Statement by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth
Durbin, Duckworth Celebrate 100 Years of Chicago Union Station

We invite you to read the following published articles commemorating 100 years of Chicago Union Station.

100 Years of Chicago Union Station
A Centennial for Chicago's Cathedral of Railroading by Justin Franz
Reprinted from the July 2025 issue of Railfan & Railroad Magazine

A City of a Station
Looking back on a Chicago icon at its centenary by Scott Lothes
Reprinted from Issue No. 81 of Railroad Heritage, a quarterly publication by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, Madison, Wisconsin.

Chicago: America's Railroad Capital
In 2023, Trains featured Chicago Union Station in a special edition of the magazine.

Special Thanks

Thank you to our Centennial Event supporters.