(rshsdepot) Brookfield, IL

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

Lost Brookfield

Chris Stach looks at once-familiar local sites and sights that have  been 
relegated to history’s vault.

Probably anyone interested  in Chicago architecture that has met the cold, 
hard, wrecking ball has heard of  the book "Lost Chicago" by David Lowe. Inside 
its covers are a great number of  noble edifices that once were, and are no 
more.
 
Over the years, Brookfield has also had its share of vanished buildings,  and 
the earliest of these I have already written about with accompanying  
photographs. The old Grossdale Pavilion, on the corner of Prairie and Brookfield  
Avenues was a most unique building, and it burnt down in 1897. 
 
However, no one is alive today who can remember seeing it. Recently, I  wrote 
of the old Brookfield village hall, and there are still plenty of people  
around who remember the way that looked.
 
I have avoided mentioning the more obvious and recently lost buildings,  such 
as Alonzi’s, the old gas station at the corner of Forest and Brookfield  
avenues and Buresh’s Lobster House. In the Landmark of May 30, 2001, I wrote of  
"Brookfield’s Vanishing Past," but that was about changes occurring right 
around  that time. 
 
What now follows are buildings, places and things which no longer exist,  but 
are still within the scope of many residents’ memories.
 

Congress Park and Hollywood Depots
 
I have written before of the Congress Park Station, at the corner of  
Burlington and DuBois boulevards, in my Nov. 2, 2005 article, "West Grossdale  
Story." It still qualifies as a "lost" building, as it has not been seen since  it 
was razed on March 17, 1979.
 
Built in 1895 by S.E. Gross, it suffered a fire on March 31, 1950, but  
continued to be used by passengers, and then, in its final days, solely by  
railroad employees. It had once been a proud and beautiful station house, but  the 
ravages of time had taken its terrible toll.
 
At the same time that the remains of the station were being carted away,  the 
wooden, trackside canopies were being removed to make way for newer  
shelters. As was the case with the station, the canopies hadn’t been painted in  
years, and the rain gutters sagged with age and neglect.
 
When the subdivision of Hollywood was opened by Gross in 1893, he built a  
magnificent station house a little above the level of the flat prairie land.  
Originally, the building had long canopies on both sides, but those were  
removed.
 
Like the Congress Park Station, the Hollywood Station, too, in its later  
years, suffered from fire, although here the damage was due to repeated acts of  
arson and vandalism. The passengers’ waiting room was closed off, and the  
building was demolished on Feb. 27, 1978. It has been missed by Hollywood  
residents ever since.
 
From the 1920s to 1981, at the southwest corner of Maple and Southview  
avenues, Brookfield had a much smaller water tower, a gray steel canister on  four 
stilts. It was replaced that year by the present white one, featuring two  
dolphins and the village name. The old tower was taken apart, piece by piece,  
until nothing was left of it.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1306
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org