Joliet, Illinois

Imagine a building that once saw over a hundred trains a day, its platforms thick with travelers from across the country. This is Joliet Union Station, built in 1912 as part of a massive project to handle the six railroads that converged here, just outside Chicago. At its peak, it was a humming hub of intercity, commuter, and interurban service. But here's the twist: today, that grand Beaux-Arts station, listed on the National Register in 1978, no longer serves a single train. Amtrak and Metra pulled out in 2014, and by 2018 a new transportation center had taken over. The city of Joliet now owns the old station, and its waiting room has been transformed into a banquet hall. So the place that once moved thousands now hosts weddings and galas.

In 1899, Congress approved $100,000 to build a new post office in Joliet. The building, designed by James Knox Taylor, opened in 1903. It served the city for nearly 80 years. But here's the twist: Joliet grew so fast in the early 20th century that the post office quickly became too small. Congress had to approve another $185,000 for expansion—the last major change to the building. It operated as the post office until 1981, when a new one was built. Want to know more about the post office's history?

The Joliet YMCA started small. Its first building, on Clinton Street, struggled to stay afloat and closed in 1901, sold to cover debts. But in the 1920s, the Illinois YMCA tried again. Joliet was booming — the Roaring Twenties — and a fund-raising campaign raised $450,000 for a new building. $200,000 came from U.S. Steel. The seven-story building was designed by the Burnham brothers, sons of the famous Daniel Burnham. They never matched their father's fame, but they gave Joliet this sturdy landmark. It housed the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, the Boy Scouts. Women's access was limited at first; a Women's Division annex was proposed in 1933 but delayed by the Great Depression, finally added in 1950. The building still stands, listed on the National Register in 2006.

In 1876, a Joliet house took the architecture award at the American Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia. Not bad for a home built by a railroad magnate on a foundation of Joliet limestone from his own quarry, with red Illinois sandstone and deep red brick specially fired in Ohio and shipped by barge. Henry Mansion had a commanding three-story tower, elaborate polished-walnut woodwork, massive carved pocket doors, a solid walnut staircase. Then the Depression hit. By the 1930s, many Joliet residents couldn't afford the upkeep on these large residences. Henry Mansion became a boarding house. Later, a funeral parlor. During World War II, big Victorian homes were divided for multiple families. After the war, absentee landlords and vinyl siding slowly erased the old stone and brick character. In 1975, federal Block Grant money began offering incentives to restore historic structures, and in 1980 the East Side Historic District was established. The mansion still stands, a landmark now.