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==Infrastructure== === Transportation === [[File:PULLMAN07.jpg|thumb|right|The Rock Island Depot at Vermont Street during the riots of June 29, 1894]] [[File:Blue Island railroad bridges.jpg|thumb|right|The bridges shown here span the [[Calumet River|Calumet Sag Channel]] and are included in the [[Heritage Documentation Programs|Historic American Engineering Record]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.il0731 |title=Calumet-Sag Channel Bridges, Calumet-Sag Channel, Blue Island vicinity, Cook, IL |publisher=The Library of Congress – The Historic American Buildings Survey |access-date=2012-10-27}}</ref>]] ====Public transportation==== The city is a hub for [[Metra]] trains, with six stations, four of them along the [[Rock Island District]] line: [[119th Street station|119th Street]], [[123rd Street station|123rd Street]], [[Prairie Street (Metra)|Prairie Street]], and [[Blue Island–Vermont Street station|Vermont Street]]. The Rock Island District line splits at [[Auburn Gresham, Chicago|Gresham]], northeast of Blue Island, and the branch, known alternately as the "Beverly", "Blue Island", or "Suburban" branch, serves the Chicago communities of Gresham, [[Beverly, Chicago|Beverly Hills]], and [[Morgan Park, Chicago|Morgan Park]]. The Rock Island District uses the stations in Blue Island between 119th Street to the north and Vermont Street, where the tracks rejoin the main line, to the south. The branch line was built in 1888 as a result of efforts by the Blue Island Land and Building Company to promote its interests in what was to become the town, and eventually, the Chicago neighborhood of Morgan Park.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bianculli | first = Anthony J. | title = Trains and Technology: The American Railroad in the Nineteenth Century : Track and Structures | publisher = The University of Delaware Press | year = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7T3qECx0CLUC&q=%22blue+island+land+and+building+company%22&pg=PA25 | access-date = 2010-12-11 | isbn = 0-87413-802-7}}</ref> The Vermont Street station—which is one of the oldest in the Metra network, having been built in 1868<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blueisland.org/historic/landmark-tour/40-rock/|title=Rock Island Vermont Street Depot|author=jason|date=24 October 2009|publisher=City of Blue Island}}</ref>—is across the street from the fifth station, which serves as the terminus of a [[Blue Island (Metra)|Metra Electric]] (formerly the [[Illinois Central Railroad|Illinois Central]]) spur line.<ref>{{cite web |author = Curt Teich & Co. |author2=North Suburban Library System | title = I.C. Depot, Blue Island, IL | publisher = Aero Distributing Co., Chicago, IL | year = 1904 | url = http://www.digitalpast.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lakecoun004&CISOPTR=5036&REC=7 | access-date = 2009-02-16}}</ref> This depot was witness to national history in a series of events that began on June 29, 1894, when rioting broke out in the Blue Island yards of the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad]] after an appearance by the president of the [[American Railway Union]], [[Eugene Debs]], who had given a speech that day in support of the striking workers of the [[Pullman Palace Car Company]] in [[Pullman, Illinois]], four miles (6 km) to the east. During the riot several buildings were set on fire and a locomotive was knocked off the tracks. After numerous incidents in Blue Island and elsewhere that continued through July 2, President [[Grover Cleveland]] responded by sending federal troops to Illinois to maintain the peace and to ensure the safe delivery of the mail. Troops arrived in Blue Island on July 4 and remained for several days.<ref>[http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/labor/bassett.pdf The Organization of American Historians – The Pullman Strike of 1894.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127224133/http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/labor/bassett.pdf |date=November 27, 2010 }} Retrieved 5/10/2010</ref> The sixth station, also on the electric line, is a half mile north on [[Burr Oak (Metra)|Burr Oak Avenue]] (127th Street) and Lincoln Avenue. Blue Island is also served by [[Pace (transit)|Pace Suburban Bus]].<ref>[http://www.pacebus.com/ Pace Suburban Bus] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907184905/http://www.pacebus.com/ |date=September 7, 2008 }}</ref> ====Other transportation==== Blue Island is {{convert|34|mi}} from [[O'Hare International Airport]] and {{convert|12.5|mi}} from [[Midway International Airport]]. It is located a half mile west of [[Interstate 57]], one and a half miles east of the [[Tri-State Tollway]], and is bisected by [[Western Avenue (Chicago)|Western Avenue]], which in Blue Island is part of the historic [[Dixie Highway]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Wright | first = James R. | title = Images of America – The Dixie Highway in Illinois | publisher = Arcadia Publishing | year = 2009 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cMixJ5SOEYEC&q=%22DIXIE%20HIGHWAY%22%20%22BLUE%20ISLAND%22&pg=PA28 | access-date = 2009-12-08 | isbn = 978-0-7385-6002-1}}</ref> that in its heyday connected Chicago with [[Miami]], Florida. === Public library === [[File:Carnegie Blue Island.jpg|thumb|right|Carnegie Library in Blue Island, built 1903, demolished 1969<ref>{{Cite book | last = Hasbrouk | first = Wilburt R. | title = The Chicago Architectural Club | publisher = Monacelli | year = 2005 | location = New York | pages = 92 | isbn = 978-1-58093-144-1}}</ref>]] A [[lending library]] has been in existence in some form or another in Blue Island since about 1845, when Thomas McClintock began to make his private library of about 100 volumes available to the public for a nominal fee. The founding of the library as a publicly supported institution dates to 1854, when the library's collection, which at this time numbered around 800 volumes, was housed in the new Whittier School building on Vermont Street. The library expanded again in 1890 when the Current Topics Club, predecessor to the Blue Island Woman's Club, opened a small reading room above Edward Seyfarth's hardware store on Western Avenue with a collection of about 1,500 books and various [[Periodical literature|periodicals]] which were acquired with funds that were donated by the community through public subscription. Except for what was in the hands of patrons, this library's collection was destroyed by the Great Blue Island Fire of 1896. The public library as a taxpayer-supported institution was founded in 1897, and the first building built in Blue Island expressly for the purpose of housing the library's collection (by this time up to 3,200 volumes) was made possible by a matching grant of $15,000 ({{inflation|US|15000|1903|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) provided by [[Carnegie library|Andrew Carnegie]] in 1903. This building was demolished in 1969 when the current library, which opened housing the library's collection of over 70,000 volumes, was built. Today, the Blue Island Public Library provides a host of services, including multi-language reading materials, computers with internet access, public meeting rooms and a wide variety of educational programs. The library is a member of the [[Reaching Across Illinois Library System]]<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.librarylearning.info/libraries/building.aspx?buildingID=72990 | title=L2 [Library Learning] Blue Island Public Library}}</ref> and is host to the Blue Island Historical Society's award-winning Museum Room. === Health care === {{Update inline|date=August 2021}}[[File:St Francis Hospital Blue Island IL.JPG|thumb|St. Francis Hospital, 1909]] Blue Island was for many years home to St. Francis Hospital and its successor MetroSouth Medical Center, long nationally recognized as one of the nation's premier [[circulatory system|cardiovascular]] [[primary care]] centers.<ref>[http://metrosouthmedicalcenter.org/ MetroSouth Medical Center] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103162158/http://metrosouthmedicalcenter.org/ |date=January 3, 2014 }}</ref> The hospital was founded as Saint Francis Hospital in 1905 by the Sisters of St. Mary (currently the [[Franciscan Sisters of Mary]]). They had purchased the home of the late Ernst Uhlich in 1905 for $30,000 ({{inflation|US|30000|1905|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) and updated its systems to outfit the building for its new purpose. At the time, this section of Gregory Street was lined with churches and the homes of some of Blue Island's more prosperous citizens. The facility was outgrown immediately, and within a few weeks of opening plans were being drawn up to add additional rooms and a laundry so that the hospital could accommodate up to 30 patients. A major addition was added in 1916,<ref>{{cite web | author = Curt Teich & Co. |author2=North Suburban Library System | title = St. Francis Hospital, Blue Island, Illinois | publisher = Aero Distributing Co., Chicago, IL | year = 1921 | url = http://www.digitalpast.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lakecoun004&CISOPTR=5047&REC=12 | access-date = 2009-02-24}}</ref> at which time the house was converted to office space. It was demolished in 1948 to allow room for the next addition. The Sisters of St. Mary relinquished ownership of the facility to MetroSouth Medical Center on July 30, 2008.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-st-francis_31jul31,0,6798618.story | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | title=Topic Galleries}}</ref> In 2014, ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' ranked MetroSouth as one among the top 25 percent of hospitals in the Chicago metropolitan region and among the top 15 percent in the state of Illinois.<ref>{{cite magazine | last = U.S. News & World Report | title = Health – Best Hospitals in Illinois | magazine = U.S. News & World Report | year = 2012 | url = http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/il?page=4 | access-date = 2014-07-21}}</ref> Citing "low patient volume" the hospital was closed in 2019. The campus of the former hospital occupies about {{convert|12|acre|m2}} in the heart of Blue Island's uptown commercial business district.
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