In 1958, a new family moved to town. But, unlike other newcomers, they came by boxcar and didn’t stay long.

Elizabeth Willis at the door of her boxcar home – 1958

In 1958, the Illinois Toll Highway Commission was in the midst of constructing the Tri-State Tollway. One of their most challenging tasks was building a new bridge for the Burlington Railroad, which would cross over the Tollway just west of Western Springs. Previously, the train tracks ran atop a simple earthen embankment connecting our village to Hinsdale.

The construction of the new bridge required moving 60,000 cubic yards of material. So the railroad sent Tom Willis to oversee the earth-moving work. As a construction foreman for the Burlington, Tom was routinely moved from place to place, as the job required. But, to make things more homelike, the railroad provided Tom and his family with their own “boxcar home”.

Their orange-yellow railroad car looked a lot like any other boxcar except it had windows, Venetian blinds, and a set of front stairs. Parked on a siding near Woodland and Hillgrove avenues, the boxcar was connected to the village’s electrical system. Mrs. Willis had a modern kitchen with an electric refrigerator and coffee pot, a gas range, a countertop sink, and a pink dinette set.

Since the boxcar was not connected to the Village’s sewer system, the bathroom had a chemical toilet. However, the rest of the “house” was fairly normal, including painted plaster walls and woodworks, linoleum floors, area carpets, colorful floral-print draperies, and pictures hanging on the walls. In the living room, visitors could relax on a sofa or easy chairs while watching television. The couple’s bedroom accommodated both a double bed and their child’s crib.

Mrs. Willis in her kitchen

According to Mrs. Willis, living on the railroad line had its advantages. As the mother of Stephen, a three-year-old, she was seldom worried about loud noises awakening him. “After all”, she said, “the roar and whistle of the trains have been his lullabies since he was six months old.”

She also said that “While some people may look down their nose at us for living in a boxcar, I think a woman can make a home anywhere she is willing to put in a lot of work and a lot of love.  Besides, we are looking forward to having a real house of our own before very long. There’s Stephen (their son), you know.”

So, when the bridge work was completed in Western Springs, the Willis’s “home on wheels” was connected to a line of freight cars and hauled to Tom’s next assignment. Hopefully, the family eventually got that ”real house” of their own.