Columbian Exposition of 1893
![Photograph of people at a train station](/media/images/On_Chicago_Day_October_9_1893_during_the_Worlds.original.jpg)
University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf3-03146, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
On Chicago Day, October 9, 1893, during the World's Columbian Exposition, the Illinois Central handled 500,000 passengers, a record unequaled by an American railroad.