Ghosts of the Chicago Northwestern

Before I lose those readers who aren’t interested in the spectral remains of past lives; let me start by saying that the subject of this piece is the physical remains of past structures.

Eventually features of the built environment come to the end of their usefulness.  The structure is then removed, repurposed or simply falls into disrepair. Often a hint of a structure’s former existence and purpose is left behind. Those physical hints are referred to by some historians as “ghosts”.   

American history is traditionally seen, and written, as a movement of people from east to west. The highlights of that school of writing are the Oregon Trail, the Transcontinental Railroad and the Lincoln Highway. The first is iconic in Nebraska but had little to do with the development of the state. The Transcontinental Railroad opened up a narrow strip of the state as it headed for points west. The Lincoln Highway, now US 30, allowed more freedom of movement for those who had already settled. That freedom was often not kind to the survival of small towns.

The heavy lifting that led to the full development of Nebraska’s potential was done by small regional railroads. The network of track that they built once lay on the land like a spider’s web.  Built in the mid to late 1880’s, the settlement work of these railroads was reflected in the numerous small town quasquicentennial (125 year) celebrations recently held in this state. However, the development of improved roads made many of those spur lines obsolete by the end of 1940’s. The removal of those rail lines has left behind reminders of their earlier existence. The “ghosts” of past rail lines exist in and around York. 

In 1887 the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad (FEMV) entered York County on its southerly route from Fremont to Hastings. It was part of a trio of lines that the railroad built into south east and south central parts of the state, the other two lines heading for Lincoln and Superior.

Approximately six miles northeast of downtown York, at the intersection of County Road 16 and County Road O, lays the unincorporated village of Houston. The village was platted in 1887 by the Pioneer Town Site Company as part of the building of the FEMV Railroad. The plat shows five east/west streets and two north/south streets all of which are now vacated. The corner of Fremont and Marathon was projected to be the main business intersection, a town builder’s ambition which is now just lines on a piece of paper.  Railroad Street, now Houston Road, runs at an angle parallel to the former tracks. On the west side of Houston Road sits three modern homes. On the eastside of the road an abandoned elevator rises above the trees that have overtaken the warehouse lots that once abutted a working railroad. The weathered wooden elevator is all that is left to witness the hopes of the former rural market center.

 

The FEMV entered the City of York at 14^th and Michigan running at an angle that had it crossing diagonally through the intersection of 6^th and Delaware. Just south of 2^nd and Blackburn the rail line made a sweeping turn that oriented it toward the central business district. The depot grounds straddled Lincoln Ave. between 3^rd and 4^th Streets.

Rail bed work that track builders did to accommodate East Hill’s descent into the Beaver Creek watershed has left behind two ghosts; one very dramatic, the other much more subtle. On the York College campus, southeast of the Holthus Fieldhouse, a beautiful limestone culvert carries runoff under a still existing stretch of rail bed. The circa 1887 structure provides a reminder of the stone craft of long ago workers. 

To allow for a gentle incline leading into the central business district the FEVM tracks crossed Blackburn Avenue below grade.  When the railroad was still operational a viaduct lifted Blackburn’s traffic over the tracks. With the removal of the tracks Blackburn now proceeds at grade level, but the trench through which the rail road ran still exists. Over grown with trees the trench at first glance looks like a dry creek bed, but is in fact a subtle ghost waiting to tell its story.

In 1908 the FEMV was absorbed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (CNWRR). In the 1920’s side tracks on the depot grounds served J. F. Grosshan’s Grain and Lumber and E. S. Clarke Lumber Co. which were located on the sites of the present day Grand Central Foods and City Hall respectively. A freight depot shared the Grand Central Foods block and the passenger depot was directly across Lincoln Avenue.   

The 1920’s also saw the improvement of rural highways and the rise of the automobile. That change in technology eventually brought the need for short spur lines to an end. In 1942 the CNWRR abandoned the line which ran through York.

Deed records show that in June of 1943 the Chicago and Northwestern sold their holdings in the Houston area, that “being Fifty (50) feet in width on each of the center line of the railroad (now removed)”. At that time, presumably, the elevator at Houston began to disappear into the overgrowth.

Today a cursory look at the area the CNWRR depot grounds once occupied reveals no signs of the formerly bustling center of commerce and transportation.  However, a closer look reveals an interesting transition from the age of rail to the age of the automobile.

Primary source material like deed records don’t record what happens to the buildings on a parcel of land. However, that information can be obtained from wise elders. That is the source of a ghost story about the repurposing of the Chicago and Northwestern freight depot as a service station.

The CNWRR freight depot was moved two blocks south along Lincoln Avenue. It became the office and garage of the H. Ells Oil Company. Located at 2^nd and Lincoln Avenue, the current Bosselman’s Pump & Pantry location, the former depot was joined by a café and tourist cabins.  The company’s tag line was, “You are always welcome on H. Ell’s Half Acre.” The depot building was able to survive by being adapted to a change in transportation technology.

 

H. Ell’s conventional automobile service business, despite later building a modern service station, gave way to the trend toward chain convenience stores. Nonetheless, the ghost of the depot still survives as a warehouse near the corner of 4^th and Division.

A back roads Sunday drive between Gresham and Henderson will reveal an unexplained cut in a ridge that runs across a pasture of brome grass; the cut is a witness to track builders working to maintain a level rail bed. One will also find village streets that run at an angle and a trapezoid shaped building, all still conforming to a rail line long abandoned. These are ghosts of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.