Homewood, IL (HMW)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$2,040,451

Station Ridership

FY 2011

39,443

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Homewood station, originally built in 1923 for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), served the City of New Orleans and Seminole Limited (now Illini) routes, and then the IC commuter line as well. It was built by the IC in a Southwestern style to blend with the adjacent Ravisloe Country Club, the only station built by that railroad in such way. The club was frequented by many IC officers, most of whom lived in the southern suburbs of Chicago and rode the commuter service downtown. The clubhouse and golf course still operate. Today, the Homewood station provides a waiting room for Amtrak as well as platforms for the Metra Electric route, the successor to Illinois Central for commuter service. Access to PACE transit buses is also available at this station.

CN, the successor to IC for freight service, operates the Markham freight yard between Harvey and Homewood. In 2007, the Homewood Rail Heritage committee opened a train viewing platform next to the track at the south end of the rail yard. An equipment park, displaying heritage CN equipment, lies across the tracks near the Homewood station. The Homewood Railroad Committee, a volunteer arm of the village’s council, is working to facilitate the station’s purchase from CN by a private firm in order to open the station up for a café/bakery and space for a railroad museum.

The first European-descended settlers arrived in the region that would become Homewood in the 1830s, south of the Little Calumet River, near Lake Michigan. In 1853, James Hart platted the area as Hartford. Later that year, the Illinois Central laid track through Hart’s subdivision and created a stop they called Thornton Station, as it served the more important Thornton Village on the nearby Thornton Creek.

The establishment of a flour mill in 1856, to which the German immigrant farmers in the region brought their grain, proved important to the expansion of the township.

Thornton Station changed its name to Homewood, in recognition of the village’s independence from Thornton Village in 1869, and was officially incorporated the same year. The railroad continued to be very important to the village, for as many as ten daily trains ran through it, and a suburban steam-powered service terminated there in the 1890s. Early in the 20th century, this southern suburb of Chicago drew people who came to play golf at nearby country clubs; many stayed and built summer homes here.

The village has grown since World War II, but retains a small-town flavor. In 2007, Forbes Magazine rated Homewood as one of the three “most livable” suburbs in the Chicago Metropolitan area.

Amtrak provides ticketing, but no baggage services at this facility.

Homewood is served by six daily trains.