Train Station - Chicago Ill - For us 1943 Postcard

Colorized photo from 1943, Jan Original title: Union Station concourse Photographer: Jack Delano Location: 225 South Canal Street Chicago, IL This is Union Station in Chicago in 1943, during the war, so they still have all that propaganda up. It stands 60ft tall, if you look carefully you will see aircraft on the ceiling. They are multiple layers deep, ranging from 12" wide all the way up to 48" wide. In total there were 4500 planes, starting on this side of the station (representing American), and the other side, representing Germany. The American side featured a large sign reading: For Us... Bonds and on the enemies side it read: For Them... Bombs. Flanking both sides are a number of flags, I assume were all fighting in the war, otherwise it adds color to a drab station. You can see quite a bit of stuff going on below. They have an entire bookstore down there. I can't really imagine wanting to get a novel before getting onto the train. But those were different times I guess. They also sold fruit, magazines, newspapers and so on. During World War II, the station had 300-400 trains moving in and out a day, but after the war ended, that declined considerably.