Chicago station (CTA Logan Square branch)
CHICAGO 800N 1700W | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Former Chicago "L" rapid transit station | |||||||||||
General information | |||||||||||
Coordinates | 41°53′46″N 87°40′13″W / 41.89611°N 87.67028°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | Chicago Transit Authority (1947–1951) Chicago Rapid Transit Company (1924–1947) See text before 1924 | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Logan Square branch | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Structure type | Elevated | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | May 6, 1895 | ||||||||||
Closed | February 25, 1951 | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
1948 | 387,603 15.93% (CTA) | ||||||||||
Rank | 115 out of 223 | ||||||||||
Former services | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Location | |||||||||||
Chicago was a
The Metropolitan, one of four companies that would build what became the Chicago "L", had many branches to serve Chicago's west side, including the Logan Square branch on which Chicago lay. With some interruptions and financial issues, it operated these lines until 1911, when it handed operations to the
Chicago was typical of the Metropolitan's stations, with two wooden side platforms and a brick station house at street level. For most of its existence it connected with a streetcar route that reached
History
The
The Metropolitan's lines were originally operated by the West Side Construction Company, which had been responsible for constructing them, and would be transferred to the Metropolitan on October 6, 1896.
Closure and demolition
Plans for Chicago to have a subway system to relieve the severe congestion of, if not replace, its elevated trackage dated back to the early 20th century, but the city lagged in building subways.[17] Chicago petitioned the Public Works Administration (PWA) for construction funds for a subway on State Street in 1937.[18] Originally included in the petition was a proposal for two downtown east-west streetcar tunnels.[19] Harold L. Ickes, the administrator of the PWA and a longtime Chicagoan, vetoed the streetcar tunnel plan and insisted instead on a second subway that would go under Dearborn Street and Milwaukee Avenue, which would provide a more direct route from Logan Square to downtown.[19] Although this idea engendered considerable local opposition, especially from mayor Edward Joseph Kelly, Ickes's influence in the federal government led to the Dearborn plan being adopted in 1938.[19]
The subway's approval did not immediately imply the end of the old Logan Square branch; plans in 1939 included another proposed subway to connect the branch with the Ravenswood branch to the north and through-routing it with the Douglas Park branch to the south into a subway on Ashland Avenue to form a crosstown route.[20] Damen Tower, serving the Humboldt Park branch divergence, was rebuilt with the expectation that it also would switch trains between the subway and the elevated, in the same manner as the State Street subway supplementing the earlier elevated North Side main line,[21] and as late as 1949 commuters were promised such a setup that would have preserved the old Logan Square trackage.[22] However, the CTA had no interest in operating either the old Logan Square elevated or the Humboldt Park branch; the new Damen Tower would never be installed with switching equipment, and the Logan Square branch south of Damen would be closed after the subway opened.[21]
The old Logan Square branch trackage south of its entrance to the subway became known as the
Station details
Chicago had two wooden side platforms at its tracks and a station house at street level. The station house, made of red pressed brick and white limestone trim with a stone
Operations and connections
As originally opened, the Metropolitan's trains ran every six minutes between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and every ten minutes during the night; the average speed was 16 mph (26 km/h).
The fare across the "L" was legally mandated to be a nickel (5 cents, $1.37 in 2021) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This fare continued until temporarily increased by a cent to $0.06 ($1.27 in 2021) in 1917 before stabilizing to a dime (10 cents, $1.35 in 2021) in 1920.[33] Starting in 1922, fares were usually marketed in packs of three for 25 cents, or 8+1⁄3 cents per ride ($1.35 in 2021), but individual fares remained 10 cents each.[34] At the same time, a weekly pass was introduced, the first in a major American city, for $1.25 ($20.24 in 2021) for rides outside of Evanston and Wilmette.[34] Fare control was usually by a station agent posted 24 hours a day, but conductors were used instead during night and off-peak hours from 1931 to 1934, and during 1936 and 1937.[35]
As of 1915, Chicago Avenue had two streetcar lines, both serving the station: one went westbound from
Ridership
In 1948, the last year records are available, Chicago served 387,603 passengers, a 15.93 percent decrease from the 461,031 riders of 1947.[40] In 1948, it was the 115th-most ridden of the 223 stations on the Chicago "L" at the beginning of the year where ridership was recorded; in 1947, it had been the 103rd-most ridden of 222 such stations.[b][43]
Notes
- ^ a b Technically, the Logan Square branch started after Robey and was, like the Humboldt Park branch, a divergence from what was formally known as the "Northwest branch".[4] However, as early as 1898, even the Metropolitan itself was referring to the Northwest branch as part of the "Logan Square branch".[5]
- ^ Several stations on the Niles Center and Westchester branches were permanently unmanned and thus did not collect ridership statistics.[41] Several stations closed on the "L" during 1948.[42] Exchange station on the Stock Yards branch discontinued statistics after 1946, but adjacent Racine station began collecting them in 1948.[40]
References
- ^ Moffat, p. 123
- ^ 1895 Review, p. 263
- ^ a b c d 1895 Review, p. 264
- ^ a b c Moffat, p. 130
- ^ The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (Map). Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. 1898. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022 – via Chicago-L.org.
- ^ 1895 Review, p. 267
- ^ Moffat, p. 124
- ^ Borzo, p. 43
- ^ a b c d "New "L" Road Opens". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 54, no. 127. May 7, 1895. p. 12. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Moffat, p. 134
- ^ Moffat, p. 139
- ^ Moffat, p. 237
- ^ Moffat, pp. 240–242
- ^ Moffat, p. 261
- ^ Moffat, p. 260
- ^ Chicago Transit Authority (October 1, 1947). "Today – they're all yours!". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 106, no. 235. p. 8. Archived from the original on October 29, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Borzo, p. 91
- ^ Borzo, p. 92
- ^ a b c "Entries in Loop at Every Block; Begin Work Dec. 15". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 97, no. 245. October 13, 1938. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ 1939 Plan, p. 16
- ^ a b Garfield, Graham. "Damen Tower". Chicago-L.org. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ "Work Speeds on Building New Subway". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 108, no. 34. August 21, 1949. p. 3–1. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Buck, Thomas (February 18, 1951). "1st Trains Run in New Subway Saturday Night". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 7, Part 1. p. 21. Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nedella, Carola (March 5, 1951). "Results of Eliminating the Logan Square "L"". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 62. p. 1–20. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Serpico, Lillian (May 15, 1951). "Inconvenienced Riders". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 116. p. 1–14. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ CTA 1951, p. 1
- ^ a b Garfield, Graham. "Paulina Connector". Chicago-L.org. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ a b Garfield, Graham. "Chicago". Chicago-L.org. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
- ^ "Demolish 70-Year-Old 'L'". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 118, no. 306. November 1, 1964. pp. 10–9. Archived from the original on October 29, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Banich, Terence. "Remnants of the "L"". Forgotten Chicago. Archived from the original on January 22, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
- ^ 1895 Review, p. 268
- ^ Moffat, p. 115
- ^ Moffat, pp. 254–255
- ^ a b Moffat, p. 255
- ^ CTA 1979, p. 13
- ^ a b c Lind 1974, p. 239
- ^ a b Lind 1974, p. 201
- ^ Lind 1974, pp. 201–202
- ^ Lind 1974, p. 243
- ^ a b CTA 1979, p. 14
- ^ CTA 1979, pp. 22 & 38
- ^ Chicago Transit Authority (April 5, 1948). "New Lake Street All-Express "L" Service". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 107, no. 82. p. 7. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ CTA 1979, pp. 6, 14, 22, 30, & 38
Works cited
- "The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad of Chicago". The Street Railway Review. 5: 263–274. January 15, 1895.
- Department of Subways and Traction (1939). A Comprehensive Plan for the Extension of the Subway System of the City of Chicago. City of Chicago – via Internet Archive.
- Borzo, Greg (2007). The Chicago "L". Arcadia. ISBN 9780738551005– via Google Books.
- Chicago Transit Authority (1951). Seventh Annual Report of Chicago Transit Board for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 1951 – via Internet Archive.
- Chicago Transit Board (1954). Tenth Annual Report for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 1954 – via Internet Archive.
- Public Information Department (1967). Congress Rapid Transit. Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority – via Internet Archive.
- CTA Rail Entrance, Annual Traffic, 1900–1979 (Report). Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority. October 1, 1979.
- Lind, Alan R. (1974). Chicago Surface Lines: An Illustrated History. Park Forest, Illinois: Transport History Press.
- Moffat, Bruce G. (1995). The "L": The Development of Chicago's Rapid Transit System, 1888–1932. Chicago: Central Electric Railfans' Association. ISBN 0-915348-30-6.