Frank Lloyd Wright traveled through the station on several occasions while designing two houses in Kankakee, remarking of the new building, "not a style of my choosing but good enough for the community.

"[2] The city was also served by the New York Central Railroad at another station, with trains such as the James Whitcomb Riley, bound for Cincinnati.

The station saw a resurgence in the 1940s during World War II, when personnel training at Chanute Field in Rantoul would come to Kankakee on leisure time.

[2] Historically, the station served trains on the Illinois Central's routes going southwest, south and southeast.

[6] In Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans" (popularized by Arlo Guthrie) the train departs the Kankakee station.

River Valley Metro: – Routes 1, 7, & 8 Media related to Kankakee station at Wikimedia Commons