But for a few, their destination was still farther west. It was not unusual to see a lady disembark alone in Great Central Depot, a fire-scarred structure that could not rival its grand New York counterpart. A woman of means traveling alone booked four seats across two upholstered benches, an expensive but necessary signal of her propriety.īefore sunset on the second day, the train arrived in Chicago. But the well- to-do booked tickets for a Wagner Palace Car, a serene mahogany and brocade escape from the overflowing second-class and dismal third-class options. The cacophony and oppressive heat were the same for the woman who had packed her meager possessions in a tenement on the Lower East Side and the one who had directed her maid to prepare her trunks in the parlor of a Fifth Avenue mansion.
A swirl of steam and soot enveloped the crowds on the platform.
The North Shore Limited departed Manhattan at 4:50 each afternoon in 1891.
