User:Lost on Belmont/Addison station (Illinois Central Railroad)

On June 27, 1873 the German Evangelical Lutheran Orphanage Association of North Illinois founded an orphanage in Addison. Beginning in 1877, the orphanage association held an annual Orphan Festival, later called the Kinderheim Picnic, located at Lake Street and Addison Road. The festival was so popular that five Addison Residents (William Leeseberg, Louis Stuenkel, Edward Rotermund, Professor Johann Backhaus, and H. Z. Zuttermeister) formed the Addison Railroad Company in 1890. On July 16, 1890, a charter was issued for a right-of-way from North Avenue north into Addison to build a railroad track. An agreement was reached with the Illinois Central Railroad where the IC would provide the railbed, equipment, and maintenence for the line and operate it for fifty years. The right-of-way cost $16,488.90. The Addison Railroad was incorporated into the Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad. Initial service to Addison was for the Orphan Home Picnic on September 12, 1890. The new rail service to the picnic doubled attendance from 5,000 to 10,000.