Updated January 16th, 2021
Indian Oaks, IL
by Joshua Bauer
Assisted by Ryan Tanner & Joshua Biggers
Assisted by Ryan Tanner & Joshua Biggers
A Diverse History - A Simple Community
Indian Oaks, Illinois was a small community formed north of Bourbonnais, Illinois along the Illinois Central Chicago Subdivision. The town was previously known as Tucker, Illinois and had a rail depot. Although the town did have a rail depot, only two of the trains on the timetable stopped, and that was back in the 1920s when passenger rail traffic was pretty high. Tucker, Illinois was originally founded in sometime in the 1850s to 1860s and had a simple wooden depot with telegraph office and mail of course. The town hardly offered anything in terms of industry, maybe an elevator - but that would have been it. The town of Bourbonnais had much more, Bradley even more, and Kankakee more yet. So the railroad had little attention to the small northern town of Tucker, Illinois. There is evidence of a previously rail-serviced industry currently all truck serviced that hold steel products, so later in life the IC may have made some local runs to Indian Oaks, IL. The town's size never really increased and instead stayed at a block or two of houses with plenty of farm room. It is unknown whether the steel plant in Bourbonnais was once part of the original Tucker, IL scene, but it definitely would not have been built when the town was still known as Tucker. In the late 21st Century, a large grain elevator was built. The man who owns it said that upon surveying the land he remembers there being a very worn out and completely wrecked old wooden building that looked like the original station. It was torn down and was where the main elevator of the facility now is. The town survived into the 1990s, and was incorporated into Bourbonnais, Illinois. Larry Power Road, a road to the immediate south of the steel plant was once Robert Hall Road, and before that was original Tucker Road. This suggest Tucker, IL once did have claim to the property as far south as the steel plant. This is also evident by a strip mall along Larry Power Road that is longitudinally even with the steel plant called the "Indian Oaks Mall", giving it away. The steel plant is currently run by Nucor Steel Company, and more can be found on the Bourbonnais, Illinois page. St. George Road was once Indian Oaks Road - since the road used to go to Indian Oaks. The northern difference of Larry Power Road and St. George Road assume that around the time the town was renamed Indian Oaks, IL that the land where the steel plant is, west of the Illinois Central was given to Bourbonnais, IL - or incorporated as it probably was unincorporated at the time. St. George Road was renamed to its current name when Indian Oaks was merged into Bourbonnais, IL. This was done because the road also leads to the heart of St. George, IL - a small school and farming community to the west of northern Bourbonnais and Bradley, IL. Road signs that have not been changed still show this. (pictures needed).
Local Industry & Track
These images were taken along the spur track that leads to the FS Grain, L.L.C. elevator that is still in use and served by the Canadian National. The spur dead-ends at the grade crossing, and begins just south of the elevator near where McKnight Road used to cross. Recall the depot used to be where the old concrete elevator is.