Help us save a piece of Chicago-area railroad history!

[Blutorse4792]

Briergate Station in Highland Park, Illinois - one of three surviving stations on the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway - is currently up for sale. Since it sits on prime commercial real estate, the local historic preservation committee has informed us that it will likely be demolished to make way for new development. The 1926 structure was designed by Chicago architect Arthur U. Gerber, and was the only one of its kind preserved on the CNS&M due to its unusual location on the west side of the tracks. It has survived all of these decades as the headquarters of a local HVAC company.

The North Shore Line Preservation Association consists of myself and a group of concerned CNS&M enthusiasts.
Our goal is to purchase the station ourselves, and convert it into a small CNS&M museum.

https://www.gofundme.com/briergate

The building is currently going for a hefty price ($995,000, plus all of the fees we need to pay for the GoFundMe drive) but I think it's certainly worth a try.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Usually a historic structure can not be torn down, unless it is unsafe for habitation, is dilapidated and repairable

 

[Blutorse4792]

While it's eligible for inclusion on the Historic Registry, the owners have prevented it from being added.

 

[JCitron]

Get a petition going in your area. Perhaps if there's enough signatures presented to the mayor or other officials, the structure can be preserved. It's a nice, typical, 1920s period structure. The New Haven had stations and building in the same style and so did the New York, Westchester & Boston, which only made it to Westchester.

John