The Baltimore & Ohio System Map of the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad and Its Connections

A rare print block capturing the peak of the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad.

This scarce print block, dated 1924, captures Chicago’s complex railway ‘circulatory’ system during a period of intense industrial expansion in the mid-1920s. The finely machined plate identifies primary railroad infrastructure across a vast region, stretching from Bryn Mawr Avenue in the north to the heavy industrial belts of South Chicago Heights, and from the massive transfer yards at Proviso in the west to the steel-producing heart of East Chicago. The lines of the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad are emphasized, offering switching services to Chicago’s Grand Central Station through the western suburbs and the heavy industrialized corridor southeast of the city. Other important features that define the industrial landscape include clearing yards, the Union Stockyards, the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, and the Ship and Sanitary Canal.

The Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT) was formally established in 1910 after the B&O acquired the assets of the bankrupt Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad. Originally rooted in 19th-century speculative ventures like the Chicago & Northern Pacific, the B&OCT functioned as the “industrial glue” of the nation’s rail hub. Rather than a long-haul carrier, it was a specialized switching and terminal line that provided the vital hand-off services between eastern trunk lines and Chicago’s local manufacturing giants. Centered at the architecturally renowned (and unfortunately demolished) Grand Central Station, the B&OCT’s strategic network of belt lines and river crossings allowed it to dominate the transfer business for decades.