{"nrhp_refnum":"82004912","name":"Grossdale Station","other_names":["Brookfield's Old Prairie Avenue Railroad Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8820 1/2 Brookfield Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brookfield","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.82308279800003,"lon":-87.84269050299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Transportation","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Victorian railroad station in Brookfield, Cook County, Illinois, built in 1889 and financed by real estate promoter Samuel Eberly Gross. It was moved in April 1981 to the site of the old village hall, still in the original Grossdale area and about 75 feet from the tracks.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the oldest station on the Burlington Northern commuter line and the only railroad station in the state financed and built by a private individual to develop land along the railroad. It is tied to the founding of Grossdale, later renamed Brookfield, and to Gross's pioneering sales methods. It is also a cottage-style Victorian design.","narrative":"Grossdale Station is a small Victorian railroad depot in Brookfield, Illinois, built in 1889. Samuel Eberly Gross, a Chicago real estate promoter, paid for it, reportedly $5,000, to encourage development of his Grossdale subdivision for working families. The building has a two-and-a-half-story center section with a four-room flat upstairs, one-story wings, fish-scale siding, carved wooden supports and a roof extended as an awning. Its ornamental roofline and porch pillars were removed in a 1941 renovation, and plans call for restoring them. The nomination describes it as the oldest station on the Burlington Northern commuter line and the only station in the state financed and built by a private individual to promote land along the tracks. It is also linked to the founding of the village, which was named Grossdale until 1905. The station was moved in 1981 to save it from demolition and now stands near the tracks on the former village hall site.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Samuel Eberly Gross; architect unknown","architectural_style":"Victorian cottage style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Moved on April 9, 1981 to a new site; condition listed as fair, altered and moved, with restoration work under way and plans to return it to its original appearance. An earlier 1980 listing was removed after the move.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.289461-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/8923/28892324/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/82004912.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004912/66590384d3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004912/66590384d3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldBrookfieldStation.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08 at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldBrookfieldStation.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892324","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grossdale_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134577521"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/grossdale-station-82004912/"}