Were there once no elevators at American train stations in big cities?

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Have you seen the 1987 film "The Untouchables" with Kevin Costner and Sean Connery? Remember that scene with the woman and the baby carriage at the train station in Chicago? She struggled to get that heavy old-fashioned baby carriage up a long flight of stairs. Would they not have had elevators in such stations back in the days of Al Capone? And what about people in wheelchairs back then? Of course, Hollywood needed the staircase scene for dramatic effect. And the men in uncomfortable suits and ties scrubbing the station floor by hand. That's improper clothing for janitorial work! I would use a mop and a long-handle scrub brush. That's pure slavery!

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[JCitron]

I don't know. You'd have to ask someone who lived in Chicago back in the 1920s if Union Station had elevators. In those days, being easily accessible by disabled people wasn't exactly the norm. It's also possible that the stairs-thing was for cinematic drama because it looks bad and scary.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

I don't know. You'd have to ask someone who lived in Chicago back in the 1920s if Union Station had elevators. In those days, being easily accessible by disabled people wasn't exactly the norm. It's also possible that the stairs-thing was for cinematic drama because it looks bad and scary.

You might think the woman with the baby carriage should have had a porter's assistance.

 

[marmalade32]

It's odd really, first elevator invented 1852, no idea when they were implemented in railroad stations.

 

[wreeder]

On the contrary, most public buildings had ramps as well as stairs. They were considered a quicker way to move large volumes of people. The old Birmingham Terminal Station had ramps from the platforms to an overhead walkway for passengers to reach their trains on one of the 12 tracks the station operated. I'm pretty certain that Grand Central also has ramps as well as stairs. But I've never been there in person. They only elevators I've seen in a train station was the deep lines of the London Underground.

 

[Forester1]

Below is the AI response to a Google search:
Yes, Chicago Union Station had elevators in the 1920s, specifically after it opened in 1925. The current station, built in 1925, includes elevators for passenger access. A Facebook post mentions elevators as being present in the older Union Depot that was replaced by the current station.

 

[wreeder]

The new station is quite tall. looks like six stories above street level and almost as far down to the tracks. I have seen stations that had office space above the station. The station in Detroit that Ghosthunters visited was about 20 stories tall. In that case, I could see the sense in having an elevator that also went down to the tracks. But that would be a massive bottleneck without other means of egress.

 

[wreeder]

I believe that is the old station in front of the new one. That looks to be in the 40s or the 50s by the automobiles. Today, Google Earth shows a skyscraper where the old station was located. That is the river in front of the old station. Going to street view, shows an entrance to Union Station from next to the river. I guess this is to the platform area of the old station and is used for the transit system trains. Kind of like what they did to Penn Station in NYC.

 

[JCitron]

Below is the AI response to a Google search:
Yes, Chicago Union Station had elevators in the 1920s, specifically after it opened in 1925. The current station, built in 1925, includes elevators for passenger access. A Facebook post mentions elevators as being present in the older Union Depot that was replaced by the current station.

That makes sense. I stand by the part of my answer that the stairs-thing was used for drama. Taking an elevator and having the door closed on the chaser isn't that dramatic but getting trapped on a flight of stairs is.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Likely then, a woman with a baby carriage and two bags in Al Capone's time would have used the elevator instead of the staircase to get to and from her train. Unless, maybe, she had porter assistance. Hollywood, indeed, had to use the stairs scene for the ultimate drama. The baby boy is in much danger. Tumbling down the stairs. Getting shot with all that gunfire exchanging. The slow-motion effect was really cool. I'm sure train personnel would have helped get the carriage on and off the train. Where the big clunky carriage would have been parked onboard the Prohibition-era train, I can't say. On modern commercial airplanes and buses, they have special spots in the passenger cabin to secure wheelchairs.