| Blue Island is
a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was
23,463 at the 2000 census.
Blue Island is so named because
it is situated on the south end of a glacial moraine
that was once an island when Lake Chicago covered the
surrounding area thousands of years ago at the end of
the last ice age. Early pioneers gave the ridge the
name because at a distance it looked like an island
set in a trackless prairie sea.
The city is a hub for Metra trains,
with six stations, four of them along the Rock Island
District Line: 119th Street, 123rd Street, Prairie Street,
and Vermont Street. The Rock Island District Line splits
at Gresham, north-east of Blue Island, and the branch
(known alternately as the 'Beverly', 'Blue Island',
or 'Suburban' branch) serves the communities of Beverly
Hills, Morgan Park, and the stations in Blue Island
between 119th Street and Vermont Street, where the tracks
re-join the main line.
The Vermont Street station, which
is one of the oldest in the Metra network (having been
built in 1868[1]) is across the street from the fifth
station, which serves as the terminus of a Metra Electric
spur line. The sixth station, also on the electric line,
is a half mile north on Burr Oak Ave. (127th St.) and
Lincoln Ave. |
