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====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>
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