The Things I Saw - Part the Eleventh

"You could fly to DC, rent a car and then drive south to Richmond for the price you're going to pay in gas," a well-meaning friend told me. "Plus, you won't have the aches and pains in your joints from all that driving. Have you considered your health?" She was rather upset with me that I should be considering driving to Virginia.

It was a long day, to be sure, but as I hope you have realized in this series of posts, I would have missed all these things because I was in the air, flying over the country I am driving through.

I would also have missed the chance to blunder into country I am totally unfamiliar with because of road destruction. Actually, it was a bridge that was being replaced and the road signs for how traffic was to partition itself were not clear to me. I wound up getting off I-79 north because that's the only option I had. Plus, there was no way to get back on at this interchange.

I realized, in following the road signs, that I was not the only person who made this blunder. There were 2 semi-trucks and at least 5 cars. The detour was well-marked, I assume to account for those of us who can't figure things out when they pass signage at 70 miles an hour. I rejoined I-79 3 miles south of the intersection with my destination, Interstate 80, but the slower going over a 2 lane highway behind 2 trucks added 45 minutes to my travel time.

Still, I would have missed this. I know it's a horribly blurry photo and I apologize. It was at a 4-way stop and traffic was proceeding through the intersection with all due speed. I didn't have time to really frame the photo or take it because we were moving.

I had to do some digging to figure out what these train cars were attached to. I knew it was some sort of railway museum but which one. I only got a small glimpse of the sign as I moved past.

This is the Harlansburg Station Museum outside Harlansburg, Pennsylvania. A former railroad station and two passenger cars seem to make up the buildings of this privately held museum. I had no idea this existed and wouldn't have known about it had I not blundered off the Interstate.

See this is what's important to me when I travel. I like to see things. Normally, I change the quotes to the right, sometimes, daily, depending upon what I'm writing about. The quote by G.K. Chesterton sums up my feelings about air versus car travel this trip.

The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.
--G.K. Chesterton

I have seen things, and by extension, you have seen them, that I wouldn't have seen had I flown from Chicago to Washington DC. If I hadn't had to be back to Illinois that Thursday, I would have stopped here. I would have looked. I would have seen.

Too much of our life is spent going from place to place and not really seeing what there is to see. When I was in college, we had to take some Philosophy courses to become the well-rounded students Viterbo felt we needed to be. One of the philosophy professors, Sister Laurian, talked of having a "slender adventure" at least once per week. In this adventure, nothing is planned. You just go where your spirit takes you and be open to the things you'll see and experience. By driving, I could have more than enough "slender adventures" to fill weeks of blog posts and to look back on with pleasure.

So, I'm now curious about this place. It's close to Youngstown and April and Perry or I could simply go there and stay in nearby Oakland. What adventures would I have if my destination was this museum? Yes, I could have flown and rented a car for the cost of the gas for this trip, but I would have missed things along the way. I'll take the stumbling onto a transportation museum in the middle of western Pennsylvania over a walk through an airport any day.

Beverage:  Mixed Berry Seltzer

Deb

A Trip Around Wheaton

One of the last things I did with Flat Stanley was take him around Wheaton, where I've lived for over 30 years.

We started at Adams Park. It's a large park just to the north of downtown. It used to be framed by streets but several years ago, the library got the eastern street vacated and they expanded, building an entrance accessible from the park.

I haven't been in the new addition since it opened. I used to use the library all the time. I knew several of the librarians, but I've found that my need for what they offer is, currently, non existant. That might be a reflection on society in general as people can find things they used to go to the library for, online. Libraries should never go away and I'll generally always vote for a library referendum, unlike some other tax increases. If you're interested, go here and watch the video about the Troy, Michigan library's funding campaign. Inspired.

After we went to the library building, we went into Adams Park, itself. The park is built on the site of the home of one of Chicago's prominent merchants, John Quincy Adams, a 4th cousin of the 6th president. In the center of the park is a fountain. It was covered for the winter.

Turning to our right, we can see the DuPage Historical Museum.

This limestone structure was, originally, the Wheaton Memorial Library, and was built in honor of Adams' wife. Wheaton and Downer's Grove were the only DuPage towns to have a public library at the end of the 19th century. In 1967, the current library was built and the historical society moved in.

From there, we went to other important places in Wheaton. We stopped by the post office.

This building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was build in 1933, during the Great Depression and is classified as a Works Progress building. The interior has changed quite a bit since I moved here but the exterior has been lovingly preserved.

Across the street from the post office is city hall.

One of Chicago's claims to fame was being the railroad hub of the US. If you wanted to get freight from the west to the east or the east to the west with any speed, you had to route it through Chicago. Part of that legacy goes through Wheaton. It started with the Galena and Western in the post Civil War years and continues with the Union Pacific today.

The other facet of railroad life is the need to move people. In the late 19th Century, this concept was seen with some now suburban towns being viewed as vacation destinations. Glen Ellyn, the town immediately to my east, has a lake just off their downtown. Chicagoans would take the train to Glen Ellyn to spend vacations at the large hotels that sprang up around Lake Ellyn. An electrified railroad, the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin, ran from Franklin Park to the western cities of Aurora and Elgin. This was an early commuter railroad. When it folded, the right of way from Melrose Park to Aurora and Elgin was given to a non-profit and turned into the Illinois Prairie Path.

As Chicago grew, the need to get people from the growing suburban community to their jobs in the city caused the railroads to add commuter service. Each railroad had its own service, but by the 1970's, they all wanted to abandon passenger service. It just wasn't making any money. The Illinois legislature created the Regional Transportation Authority, which became the Commuter Rail Service Board which became Metropolitan Rail or Metra, in 1987. It is said the city of Chicago's population triples during the work week as dozens of commuter trains bring people into the city for their jobs.

Wheaton has two stations. This is the main station, located to the west of the downtown.

The railroad really cuts the city in half. It's located right in the downtown area and 5 blocks from my house. This is not the original station that was here when I moved here. That station was twice this size but had been renovated to the end of its useful life. It was completely torn down and this station built on the same site. I live by the College Avenue Station. That place started as little more than a brick bus-type shelter but was rebuilt to a station the same size as the downtown station to reflect the quantity of people who use it.

From here, we went to downtown Wheaton. The big attraction in downtown Wheaton is Martin Plaza.

Robert Martin was a well-liked mayor of Wheaton who passed away while in office. He spear-headed the drive to redo the front streets of downtown to make them more interesting and inviting to residents. When Front Street, as it's called, was redone from Hale to Main (the street immediately east of this plaza), fountains were added and this public area designed to give people a place to congregate.

In the distance, the spired building is the former DuPage County Courthouse. This building was built in the late 19th century and served as the government center of DuPage County until a new county complex was opened on the west side of Wheaton, out by the fairgrounds. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, too. It was turned into condominiums. I think that would be cool, to live in the former courthouse building. To the left, in the photo is the eastern end of downtown.

This is looking west into the heart of downtown Wheaton.

The building coming out of Stanley's head is the original Wheaton train station. As the town grew, so did the need for a bigger building. The Chicago and North Western who had absorbed the Galena and Western, built the commuter station to the west and used this building for small freight deliveries and storage. Eventually, they abandoned the building. It was purchased and restored and is in use for a hair salon and a yogurt shop.

The circular turreted building in the distance marks the intersection with Hale Street. Front Street is one-way heading towards us and Hale is one-way going right, north. Hale is the heart of downtown. When I moved here, everything I could want was in downtown, from clothing to groceries to crafts to bookstores.

Economic downturns haven't been very kind to original downtowns. Clothing stores have closed. The grocery store closed but it will be replaced by a new one a half-mile south of this area, along one of the major east west roads from Chicago. There are small businesses with niche interests and a lot of restaurants. We have a theatre company using a former bank building. We also have the Wheaton Grand Theatre, a 1920's theater that's been the subject of much discussion and debate. I remember seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tron at the Wheaton Grand, when it was a movie theatre.  At the time, there were many things drawing families into downtown. Today, not so much. Yes, we have a Starbucks.

So these are the places Stanley went on our quick tour of Wheaton. It was quite a cold morning and I didn't want him to catch cold so we went home.

Beverage:  Root Beer

Deb