Beginning Monday, Aug. 22, Woodstock’s train station will have the south entrance open to the public to accommodate Metra’s morning schedule. According to a news release from Kevin Newton, COO of depot owner MBI, both the east and westside doors will be unlocked between 5:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. Monday through Friday. MBI has a […]
Metra’s service in Woodstock will return to normal this month – even better than before COVID-19. Whereas three weekday trains now leave the local depot for Chicago before 8 a.m., five will head inbound before 8 effective with the new schedule Monday, April 25. That’s one better than the four early inbound trains that Metra […]
Over the past five years, the Woodstock train station has hopefully welcomed a series of tenants that sadly did not result in “happily ever after.” Coffee and sandwich shop Centerville Station, operated by D.C. Cobb’s owner Dan Hart, closed in early 2016 after a short run with UP’s strict limitations on alcohol sales and denial […]
Commission-level work is an important if largely ignored (by the public) function of city government in Woodstock. Volunteer members of more than a dozen advisory commissions do the dirty work in the trenches, which includes vetting petitions and applications for compliance with city ordinances and standards while challenging petitioners and applicants to fully explain their […]
Three months after the more than $200,000 restoration of the Metra station in Woodstock was dedicated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission voted 5-0 to deny the project a certificate of appropriateness. Although the five commission members realized the practical futility of their action, they wanted to go on record about how […]
Woodstock’s recently remodeled Metra depot will get a ribbon-cutting this week and, possibly, a new tenant in the near future – a butcher shop with a deli. The rehabilitation of the downtown train station will be observed with a ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday. The project, which cost more than $200,000, was funded by Metra […]
Expect to see activity pick up this week on about $200,000 in improvements to the Metra depot in Woodstock. A fence went up around the station several weeks ago, but little activity has been observed at the site. The City Council in May approved a contract for the project, which has since been delayed for […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
