For years, my wife and I would drive by the abandoned 11th Street South Shore line train station in Michigan City, Indiana, and dream. It was a big, beautiful old building, made up of crumbling white tiles. It was the kind of building that we used to build in America all the time when we still appreciated things like classical architecture and design.
The station has been out of use for decades, it was falling down, and it needed rescuing. Located in a part of Michigan City desperate for regeneration, the station was one of those beautiful old buildings, long empty, that was abandoned in plain sight. Ignored by the people who owned it, and ignored by the people who lived around it.
I always thought the old station would make a perfect secondhand bookstore. It was big enough that it would be a massive store; you could have shelves and shelves of thousands of books. You could call it South Shore Used Books or something to that effect. It would attract people to the area, like Lowry’s Books attracts people to Three Rivers. You could ride the train right to it from Chicago!
Time and tide wait for no one. When NICTD announced its plans to redevelop the areas around the South Shore Line Station on 11th Street, the plans included tearing down most of the buildings around the station and building a new development. But in honor of the beautiful building that once stood there, the facade of the station would be saved and integrated into the new development.
I was sad to see the station building go, but I was pleased that they wanted to at least save the facade and protect a little bit of heritage. During construction, they painstakingly took the facade down and put it into storage.
Fast forward a few years, and construction has continued on the giant building. The new parking garage for the station is complete, and crucially, the new train station is complete. Well, more of a waiting room. The station is still outside, but they’ve taken the facade and made it the new entrance to a massive new waiting room for passengers to stay warm (or cool in the summer). You’re able to park your car and walk right to the station platforms through the new waiting room.
The waiting room is airy, clean, and has bathrooms. There’s also a ticket machine to buy tickets for the South Shore Line (there’s no ticket office; none of the stations along the line have those anymore since most people buy their tickets electronically these days). There’s some beautiful new art they commissioned that shows off the history of the South Shore Line (and there’s a timeline showing the history of the rail line). It’s all really well done.
Generally, I’m against ‘facadism’ – taking the front of an old building and then building something completely new behind it. But in this case, when it was either use the facade or throw it out, I’m fine with it. My only real complaint about the whole thing is that because of the placement of the actual train station, you can’t get a good view of the facade or photograph it properly without the new station being in the way.
A minor gripe.
But I’m so very glad they saved this little bit of heritage. So much is going to be changing in Michigan City in the coming years; a lot of blight is going to be swept away, so I hope this stands as an example of a sensitive reuse, respecting what came before while still doing something new and innovative. It will be so easy to just sweep everything away and build anew. It takes effort to preserve something, anything.
I’m glad this got preserved, even if I can now never open that bookstore inside.