Two granite fragments are all that are left of Chicago’s Central Station, which served the city between 1893 and 1972. Many have no idea what these white boulders, with vague Romanesque designs, are doing resting in the south end of Grant Park. However, Chicago’s cultural historian Tim Samuelson considers these fragments a powerful symbol because the station served as a “virtual Ellis Island of the rails for hundreds of thousands of African-American southerners who escaped the boot of Jim Crow between World War I and 1970. For many African Americans who arrived in Chicago during the Great Migration, catching sight of Central Station was similar to the first glimpse of ‘Lady Liberty.’”
