Greyhound Bus Terminal
Greyhound Bus Terminal Soundex Code B200
Location: (Prior to 1953) 170 N. State Street and 1157 S. Wabash Avenue
Location: Randolph Street and Clark Street
Opened: Thursday, March 19, 1953
Closed: Thursday, December 7, 1989
Location: 630 W. Harrison Street
Opened: Thursday, December 7, 1989.
Combination of Chicago Tribune, articles of Thursday, March 19, 1953, page 8, & Friday, March 20, page 21
The new 10 million dollar bus terminal of Greyhound corporation at Clark and Randolph Streets will be dedicated at noon today. Greyhound executives and government officials, including Mayor Kennelly, will take part in ceremonies, as will Orville S. Caesar, president and R.A.L. Bogan, executive vice president of Greyhound Corporation, and George Perrine, chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the later representing Governor Stratton.
The handsome 5-story terminal, under construction for four years, will be opened for public inspection at 11:30 a.m. Thousands are expected. Fronting on Clark Street, Randolph Street, and Lake Street, the structure can accommodate 4,500 passengers and 124 buses every hour.
The property making up the site was acquired in 1941 and comprised 11 buildings including the historic Ashland Block, Apollo Theater, and the Union Building. World War II and the construction restrictions that followed prevented work on the terminal until May, 1949, when the wrecking crews started razing the existing structures.
The south end of the terminal location at Clark Street and Randolph Street was once the site of the Evans Block, which is remembered in Chicago's early history. In 1852, that three story structure housed the Chicago Tribune, Rand McNally & Company, and many of the city's leading professional men.
Service from the new terminal will begin at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, March 20, 1953. More than 200 buses will arrive and depart from the terminal every 24 hours.
Greyhound Bus stations at 170 N. State Street and 1157 S. Wabash Avenue will be closed at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow. Ticket agents, baggage clerks, dispatchers, information and telephone clerks, and other terminal personnel will transfer their activities to the new location.
Chicago Tribune, Thursday, December 7, 1989, page N1
Grand openings often are accompanied by not-so-grand closings, and so it was in Chicago's Loop Wednesday, December 6, 1989, when the Greyhound Bus Terminal at Randolph and Clark streets unceremoniously closed its doors, ending a 36-year era as an urban Ellis Island for millions of travelers.
Ribbons were cut at this ultra-modern, scaled down $14 million terminal tucked away in an obscure neighborhood just southwest of the Loop, just south of the Eisenhower Expressway. The new building has two-stories and a public area of 41,000 square feet. It's located in a primarily warehouse district at 630 W. Harrison Street.
