Address: TBD
Established: August 25, 1902
Original Line: Aurora Elgin & Chicago Ry
Rebuilt: 1911
Previous Names: N/A

History:

A station in Wheaton was virtually guaranteed, almost from the get-go of the line. On Friday, February 24, 1899, the Aurora & Chicago Railway Company was incorporated. The financial power behind the line was the Cleveland-based Everett-Moore syndicate which was generally held to be the nation’s largest operator and builder of interurban lines at the time. That same day, J. F. Snyder of Wheaton escorted a group representing the Aurora & Chicago Railway around the city and the local newspaper reported that the line planned on passing through Wheaton along with Elmhurst, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, and Warrenville before heading out to the Fox River.

The very next day, representatives of the Pomeroy-Mandebaum syndicate (the nation’s second largest interurban builder and operator at the time--also based out of Cleveland) incorporated the Chicago, Wheaton & Aurora Railroad Company. Andrew J. Hirschl, one of the officers of the new company, said at the company's announcement, "The road will run from Aurora to Wheaton and from Wheaton to Chicago." (He also went on to say that the Chicago, Wheaton & Aurora was "in direct opposition" to the Everett-Moore’s line.) As the very name of the company implied, this line too planned on traveling through Wheaton.

With the nation's two largest interurban builders competing to build Aurora-Chicago lines and both of them planning on passing through Wheaton, a station in town was a certainty no matter which line ended up winning. Actually, what eventually ended up happening (the exact date is lost to history) was that the two rival syndicates began working together toward their common goal of building an interurban line through the western suburbs to connect Chicago with the Fox River Valley.

Construction of the railroad began in September of 1900. By early May of 1902 plans for the Wheaton station were nearing completion and contracts for its construction were put out. The right of way chosen had the electric line paralleling the Chicago & Northwestern as it passed through Wheaton and Glen Ellyn and it was decided that the new Wheaton station would be built adjacent to that of the steam railroad's.

On Monday, August 25, 1902 the station opened for business along with the rest of the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway. The railway's first train left from the station at 5:53am bound for 52nd Avenue Terminal in Chicago. The station itself was a wooden structure about 100 feet long and had two stories; the second floor was built to contain offices for officials of the railroad who were to be headquartered in town. The station’s platforms were low level.

This station actually only ended up serving the road for a period of less than ten years. Patronage in Wheaton ended up being high, too high for the little wooden station that was there. To remedy this situation, a new, larger station was built in 1911 a few feet east of the old one. For a period, both stations stood at the location--the new directly in front of the old--but eventually the old station was torn down.

Unlike the old station, the new station was made of brick and was designed with possible expansion in mind. It was 96 feet long by 31-1/2 feet wide and featured two enclosed portions (one on the eastern end and one on the western end) which were separated by an open (but covered) area. Located within the eastern section were two offices, a small baggage room, and a men's room, while the western section housed a large waiting room, ticket office, and a ladies room.

In addition to serving a major community in the western suburbs of Chicago, the Wheaton station served as another important fixture for the railroad as it was the last station on the Main Line, the last station before the railroad branched southwest to Aurora and northwest to Elgin. When the Elgin Branch opened in 1903, trains departed from Chicago in fifteen minute intervals alternating between Chicago-Aurora and Chicago-Elgin trains. The importance of this location increased when the operation of Chicago-Aurora and Chicago-Elgin trains eventually gave way to having a single train depart from Chicago bound for both Aurora and Elgin. When the train arrived at Wheaton, it was cut (broken up by uncoupling) into two smaller trains with one bound for Aurora and the other for Elgin. Any cars not needed for the trip out to the Fox River Valley were stored in nearby Wheaton Yard. A similar procedure, only in reverse, was done for trains heading to Chicago.

The station continued to be important for the CA&E and even factored in being an important location after the passenger service was "suspended" on July 3, 1957. There were several plans put forth to resume passenger service after the suspension, including one by the Chicago Transit Authority. Under this plan, all service over the line would be provided by specially reequipped PCC streetcars that would pick up power from the third rail. These streetcars would operate as single car shuttles between the Forest Park terminal of the new Congress branch and a new Wheaton station which would be located on the east side of Main Street. The new station would have consisted of a single platform on the outside of a turning loop built to facilitate the return of the single-ended PCCs to Forest Park while the old station (and presumably everything west of Main Street) would most likely be demolished.

Like all of the other plans to save the Great Third Rail, this one did not come about. The railroad was scrapped and the Wheaton station was eventually demolished.

The large neon sign that adorned the side of the Wheaton station was saved and now adorns the front of Barn 4 at the Illinois Railway Museum.