Talk:Kemil Road station

A fact from Kemil Road station appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 October 2015 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the South Shore Line station Kemil Road was funded with a personal check?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2015/October.

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Opening date

I've found several sources which attest that Kemil Road was a flag stop which opened in 1977, on the urging of the South Shore Recreation group:

Laue, John Paul (1998). "South Shore Recreation: A Fun Way to Save a Railroad". In Cohen, Ronald D.; McShane, Stephen G. (eds.). Moonlight in Duneland: The Illustrated Story of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad. Indiana University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-253-33418-7. OCLC 38862554.
"A fun way to save a railroad". Chicago Tribune. August 7, 1977. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
"Group to Pay for Dunes Rail Stop". Tribune. July 17, 1977. p. 7. Retrieved October 10, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

@Lost on Belmont: what's in the CERA bulletin? Mackensen (talk) 18:41, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The CERA bulletin, published in 1960 listed a then-existant stop called Keiser with the note of "i.p. 1910" (meaning installed prior to 1910). The section this came from is actually a long series of maps successively heading east from Chicago page by page. In many instances stops are listed without any identifying features and I (incorrectly) assumed that given its location in relation to Dune Acres and Beverly Shores that "Keiser" was a previous name for "Kemil Road." It would seem that Keiser was closed sometime after 1960 and that Kemil Road was later opened in a similar area.

The map lists the following stops from west to east: Dune Acres, Port Chester, Tremont, Furnessville(c), Mt. Vernon(c), Keiser, Willis(c), Beverly Shores, Tamarack. (c) meaning the map listed it as closed. Lack of information is terrible. Lost on Belmont ^3200N_1000W (talk) 19:49, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that's interesting. Most other (internet) sources I can find have made the same assumption. I'll see what else I can dig up. Mackensen (talk) 20:08, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

A botanist surveying species on the dunes in the 1929 made note of Keiser's location: "The southeast corner of the State Park approximately coincides with the South Shore Line Station, known as Keiser."

Lyon, Jr., Marcus Ward (March 1930). "List of flowering plants and ferns in the Dunes State Park and vicinity, Porter County, Indiana, Supplement". The American Midland Naturalist. XII (2): 35.

Unfortunately the boundaries have expanded since and so far I can't find a map of the state park's original boundaries. It seems pretty likely that Keiser was in the same place as this flag stop and was simply closed at some point between 1960 and 1977. I have some Official Guides from the early 1960s but they don't list all the South Shore stops. Mackensen (talk) 20:37, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Curiously, this 1927 map shows Tremont and Furnessville, but not Keiser. Mackensen (talk) 21:39, 11 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That's... interesting. Especially considering that the map was published by the railroad itself! Lost on Belmont ^3200N_1000W (talk) 23:46, 11 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

My best guess at this point is that Keiser was a flag stop or maybe just a named location. I've yet to encounter a hint of any structure at the site. Mackensen (talk) 00:46, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Going by the CERA bulletin, it would seem as both Furnessville and Keiser were flag stops as they're listed as "FURNESSVILLE STOP" and "KEISER STOP" as opposed to "TREMONT STATION" and "BEVERLY SHORES STATION." Lost on Belmont ^3200N_1000W (talk) 00:55, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]