Old Depot Offers Glimpse into Village's Train Past

Last year it was colored like a zebra.

This year, it’s a dignified deep red with neat green trim, a color scheme far more fitting for the last Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad Depot still standing along an active rail line.

Michael Bortel, chairman of the Plainfield Historic Preservation Commission and president of the , painted the building last summer. This past Saturday, he and fellow commission member Leif Hendricksen were donating more time to keep the depot in shape while showing visitors around.

“We try to things looking crisp and clean,” Hendricksen said.

The depot was originally built between 1884 and 1887, they said, on a site south of the tracks that's a little more than a mile east of its current site on Lockport Street.

Hendricksen and Bortel flipped to a contract in a notebook showing the railroad paid $1 for the original Center Street location on Jan. 15, 1886. It was purchased from Dennison Green, a well-known abolitionist who aided fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad using the blacksmith shop behind his home, which still graces Plainfield.

The first train came through Plainfield on Aug. 18, 1886.

History buffs in town aren’t sure if the depot was built to serve the Joliet, Aurora and Northern Railroad, which preceded the EJ&E, at some unknown location and was later moved to Center Street – or if EJ&E had it built on Center Street.

Either way, the historical society saved the old depot and moved it to its current home in 1999. It also ponied up another $513 to add the finishing touches: a 1956 caboose, a 1978 box car and a 1952 motor car.

The depot is filled with antiques and information, and local history experts are on hand to tell you all about them from 1 to 3 p.m. every Saturday. Kids are welcome to play on a handcar outside the depot.