Lake Street Transfer station

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Coordinates: 41°53′07″N 87°40′12″W / 41.8852°N 87.6701°W / 41.8852; -87.6701
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Wood station
)
Not to be confused with the "Lake Transfer station", now part of Clark/Lake.
"Wood station" redirects here. For the former station on the
Douglas Park branch, see Wood station (CTA Douglas Park branch)
.

LAKE ST. TRANSFER
 
1700W
200N
Former Chicago "L" rapid transit station
A view of a train station looking straight on, with a perpendicular train station located immediately above the trackage
The Lake Street Transfer. The Metropolitan is on top, the Lake Street Elevated on bottom.
General information
Location1719 West Lake Street
Chicago, Illinois, US[1]
Coordinates41°53′07″N 87°40′12″W / 41.8852°N 87.6701°W / 41.8852; -87.6701
Owned by
Line(s)
Platforms4 side platforms
Tracks4
Construction
Structure typeElevated
Platform levels2
History
Opened
  • November 6, 1893; 130 years ago (1893-11-06)
    (Wood)
  • May 6, 1895; 128 years ago (1895-05-06)
    (Lake)
  • November 3, 1913; 110 years ago (1913-11-03)
    (Transfer)
ClosedFebruary 25, 1951; 73 years ago (1951-02-25)
Electrified
  • May 9, 1896 (Lake Street Elevated)
  • May 6, 1895 (Logan Square branch)
Previous names
  • Wood (Lake Street Elevated)
  • Lake (Logan Square branch)
Passengers
1948361,934 Increase 69.48%
Rank122 out of 223
Former services
Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station
Forest Park
 Lake Street Elevated
Market Terminal
Grand
toward Logan Square
 Logan Square branch Madison
toward Marshfield
Location
Map

The Lake Street Transfer station was a

Dearborn Street subway
.

The transfer station was an amalgamation of two predecessor stations: Wood, on the Lake Street Elevated, was on Wood Street, one block west of the site of the future transfer station, and had been constructed in 1893; the Metropolitan's Lake station, on the other hand, was on the site of the future transfer and had been built in 1895. These stations, and their lines, had been constructed by two different companies; when they and two more companies building what would become the "L" merged operations in the early 1910s, a condition for the merger was the construction of a transfer station between the Metropolitan and Lake Street Elevateds at their crossing, which in practice meant the replacement of Wood station with a new Lake Street one under the Metropolitan. Having already merged operations, the "L" companies formally united under the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924; the "L" became publicly owned when the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) assumed operations in 1947.

Plans for a subway to provide a more direct route from Logan Square to

Paulina Connector – the descendant of the old Logan Square trackage – and the Lake Street Elevated, which was used for temporary and non-revenue service until the Pink Line
opened in 2006 and returned it to revenue status.

Lake Street Transfer was double-decked, the Metropolitan's tracks and station located immediately above the Lake Street's tracks and station. Access to the eastbound Lake Street platform was by a station house at the street level; passengers would then use the platform to access the Metropolitan's platforms and Lake Street's westbound platform by additional stairways.

History

Wood station (Lake Street Elevated; 1893–1913)

A green station house in a Queen Anne style, with a staircase on the left side leading up to it
One of Ashland's station houses in 2005. Wood was of a similar design, but would have had staircases on both sides of the station house.

The Lake Street Elevated Railway Company was incorporated on February 7, 1888.

Chicago and Oak Park Elevated Railroad (C&OP) on March 31, 1904.[10]

Lake station (Metropolitan Elevated; 1895–1913)

A brick station house, at street level, with an angled bay window. The windows have white trimming, while the doors and house cornice have blue trimmings.
The station house at California in 2011; the original Metropolitan station house was of a similar design.

The

southwestern branch to Douglas Park.[15] While the competing South Side and Lake Street Elevateds used steam traction, the Metropolitan never did; although it had originally intended to, and indeed had built much of its structure under the assumption that locomotives would be used,[16] it decided in May 1894 to have electrified tracks instead,[17] making it upon its opening the first revenue electric elevated railroad in the United States.[18]

The Metropolitan's tracks on the Logan Square branch

Robey on the Logan Square branch and Canal on the main line.[19] Eleven stations opened that day, one of which was on Lake Street.[19] Since the Lake station crossed the Lake Street Elevated, its tracks and platforms were much higher than elsewhere on the "L".[1]

Transfer station (1913–1951)

Map
The Lake Street Transfer station in context. The station itself is marked by a blue marker.
  The Lake Street Elevated
  The Metropolitan's trackage prior to 1951
  The
Loop[13]
  The Milwaukee–Dearborn subway and Congress Line[20]

In 1911 the four companies operating the "L" – the C&OP and Metropolitan, as well as the South Side and

Chicago Elevated Railways (CER) while keeping their separate identities.[21] CER instituted full integration of crosstown service on the "L" and free transfers between the lines in 1913, having been mandated to do so by the City Council.[22] As part of the same ordinance, the Metropolitan and C&OP were required to construct a transfer station where their tracks intersected; since the Metropolitan already had its Lake station on the site, this meant in practice that the C&OP had to build a station to connect with it.[23] In the process of constructing the new transfer, the C&OP closed its nearby Wood station.[23] Free transfers commenced on November 3, 1913, but the C&OP's new station was not finished at that point. As an interim measure, "walking" transfers between Wood station and the Metropolitan's Lake station were issued.[23] After a few weeks, the C&OP's station was complete, and the Wood station was closed.[23] Throughout the transfer station's existence, it was used as a point of transfer for passengers of one of the lines to switch to the other when construction or maintenance work rendered a line unable to go downtown.[e]

CER acted as a de facto holding company for the "L" – unifying its operations and instituting the same management across the companies – but kept the underlying companies intact.[26] This continued until the companies were formally merged into the single Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924, which assumed operations on January 9; the former C&OP and Metropolitan were designated as the respective Lake Street and Metropolitan Divisions of the CRT for administrative purposes.[27] Although municipal ownership of transit had been a hotly-contested issue for half a century, the publicly-owned Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) would not be created until 1945,[28] and would not assume operation of the "L" until October 1, 1947.[29]

The new CTA began experiments to streamline service on the "L"; among them was

Dearborn Street subway and the closing of the transfer in 1951.[20]

Dearborn Street subway, 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.

Congress Street (the eventual I‑290).[33] These sections of transit would be connected, allowing for the area's rapid transit to be routed through downtown rather than adhere to a trunk-and-branch model.[34]

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.[35] 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, much like the State Street subway connects with the earlier elevated North Side main line that remained standing after its construction,[36] and as late as 1949 commuters were promised such a setup that would have preserved the old Logan Square trackage.[37] 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 Dearborn subway opened.[36]

An elevated railroad track pair is seen from a train window diverging from the left.
Washington Junction, near the site of the Lake Street Transfer station, in 2023

World War II interrupted the construction of the Dearborn Street subway; although the federal government allowed the continued construction of the State Street subway, it did not do so for the Dearborn Street subway even though it was 82 percent completed by 1942.

Paulina Connector, connecting the branch with the rest of the "L" system.[41]

Construction on the Congress Line began in 1954, leaving the Douglas branch with the issue of how to connect with the Loop in the meantime.[42] The Paulina Connector south of Washington Boulevard (a block south of Lake Street) was reopened for the purpose,[42] but the Metropolitan's old tracks north of Washington were replaced in revenue service by a direct connection to the Lake Street's trackage known as Washington Junction, located adjacent to the abandoned station.[41] This junction contained an automatic interlocking mechanism, where Douglas Park trains carried an electric coil to switch them to the Connector that Lake Street trains lacked.[43] This connection was used until the Congress Line was completed in 1958, after which the Douglas branch connected directly with it to use the Dearborn Street subway to go downtown, creating the "West-Northwest Route" that was renamed the Blue Line in 1992.[44][45]

The Paulina Connector – both the original Metropolitan tracks and the newer Washington Junction – remained in non-revenue service. The old northbound track north of Washington Junction was removed in 1957, the southbound track continuing non-revenue operations.[41] Wooden material from closed stations on the Connector, including Lake Street Transfer, was removed in the late 1950s to mitigate fire hazards, as were the lowest flights of stairs to deter trespassing, but the rest of the station would remain until the mid-to-late 1960s.[1] The old Metropolitan trackage north of Washington Junction was sparsely used and most of it was demolished in 1964 with the right of way sold off;[46] the remainder of the Connector reentered revenue service when the Pink Line was formed from it and the Douglas Park branch – by then renamed the Cermak branch – in 2006; the junction of the Pink Line with the modern-day Green Line (the modern service on the Lake Street Elevated) is at Washington Junction by the site of the station.[47]

Station details

Before 1913 the Wood and Lake stations had two wooden side platforms each. The Wood station had two station houses, one on each platform, designed in a "gingerbread"

hipped roof tin canopies in the center and decorative cast-iron railings with diamond designs.[1][50] Unlike elsewhere on the "L", station houses on the Metropolitan had central heating and a basement.[51]

After the transfer was completed in 1913 the C&OP built new platforms; these platforms projected westward from the Metropolitan, with their eastern halves covered by arched canopies with lattice framing and their western halves open. Auxiliary exits onto Hermitage Avenue were located on the middle of the Lake Street platforms at the western ends of their canopies. On the Metropolitan's end, its platforms and canopies were extended southward to meet the southern Lake Street platform, and a new station house on the south side of Lake Street was constructed sometime before 1917, after which the original station house was used for storage. The final station was double-decked, with the Metropolitan's original two side platforms being augmented by the Lake Street Elevated's lower two side platforms. Access to the station was through stairwells from the station house to the Lake Street platforms, which had additional stairways to connect to the Metropolitan platforms; each Lake Street platform was connected to each Metropolitan platform, leading to four inter-platform stairwells in total. The station house presumably had direct access only to the southern eastbound Lake Street platform, with patrons wishing to access the Lake Street's northern westbound platform having to walk up to the Metropolitan platforms and walk down again.[1]

Throughout the stations' existence, the Lake Street[f] and Metropolitan Elevateds[15] had two tracks each in the vicinity, meaning that the transfer station had four tracks overall. Having had trouble constructing its trackage with two different companies and assembling much of its own infrastructure, the Lake Street Elevated contracted with Underwood and Green to construct its stations and the tracks west of Ashland.[53] The Metropolitan's tracks were constructed by the West Side Construction Company, a company with the same officers as the Metropolitan itself and the chief engineer of E. W. Elliot, with steel and iron from the Carnegie Steel Company.[15] Like the rest of the station, the tracks were double-decked in relation with one another.[1]

Operations and connections

As originally opened, the Metropolitan's trains ran every six minutes between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and every ten minutes during the night; the average speed was 16 mph (26 km/h).

streetcars in response to a 1918 influenza outbreak, a prohibition that has remained in force ever since.[54]

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.[55] Starting in 1922 fares were usually marketed in packs of three rides for 25 cents, or 8+1⁄3 cents per ride ($1.35 per ride in 2021), but individual fares remained 10 cents each.[56] 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.[56] Fare control was originally by station agents posted at the station 24 hours a day; on the Lake Street, conductors were instead used for off-peak and night hours between 1921 and 1922 and consistently from 1925,[57] while the Metropolitan used conductors between 1931 and 1937.[58]

The Lake Street transfer station was served by a streetcar service on Lake Street; this service was consolidated with a streetcar service on

owl service, and its last northbound car left 63rd Street at 12:35 a.m.[60] During the day, streetcar lines in Chicago typically had intervals of between eight and fifteen minutes per car.[61] After the transfer station was abandoned, streetcar service on Lake Street was cut back from downtown on November 15, 1953, and replaced by buses on May 30, 1954.[62]

Ridership

Prior to the construction of the transfer, the Metropolitan's Lake station had a ridership that hovered around 250,000 a year, peaking at 296,116 in 1905.[63] The Lake Street's Wood station had a similar ridership, but one which peaked at 441,045 in 1905.[64] Once the transfer was in place, the two lines' contributions to station ridership were roughly equal, with the Lake Street edging out the Metropolitan each year.[65]

Lake, Wood, and Lake Street Transfer station riderships from 1900 through 1948[66]

In 1936, the last year Lake Street records are available, the transfer station had 94,688 Lake Street riders and 87,533 Metropolitan riders for a combined ridership of 182,221.[67] The following year's Metropolitan ridership was 181,909, suggesting that subsequent years' riderships were all recorded as being under the Metropolitan.[58] The Metropolitan continued to record transfer ridership until 1948; that year, the Lake Street Transfer had 361,934 riders, a substantial 69.48 percent increase from the 213,561 of 1947. Throughout the 1940s, the transfer's ridership ranking within the Northwest branch's six stations varied significantly; in 1940 it was the second-least patronized station after Grand immediately to the north, while in 1948 it had the third-highest ridership after Damen and Chicago.[68] For the "L" overall, in 1948 it was the 122nd-most ridden of 223 stations at the beginning of the year where ridership was recorded; in 1947 it had been the 174th-most ridden of 222 such stations.[g][70]

Notes

  1. ^ California after 1948[2]
  2. Loomis after 1948;[2] Ashland reopened on February 25, 1951, upon the Lake Street Transfer's closure.[3]
  3. Homan, west of California, which had been a part of a non-revenue grand opening on November 4 but would not open for revenue service until November 24.[7]
  4. ^ 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".[12] However, as early as 1898, even the Metropolitan itself was referring to the Northwest branch as part of the "Logan Square branch",[13] although ridership statistics continued to separate them.[14]
  5. ^ Examples of this occurring include incidents in February 1916[24] and on December 8, 1935.[25]
  6. ^ The Lake Street Elevated had a third track built west of Rockwell Street, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the transfer, to store cars not in revenue service.[52]
  7. ^ Several stations on the Niles Center and Westchester branches were permanently unstaffed and thus did not collect ridership statistics.[69] Several stations closed on the "L" during 1948.[2] Exchange station on the Stock Yards branch discontinued statistics after 1946, but adjacent Racine station began collecting them in 1948.[68]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Garfield, Graham. "Lake Street Transfer". Chicago-L.org. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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.
  3. ^ a b CTA 1951, p. 15
  4. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 55
  5. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 59
  6. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 62
  7. ^ Moffat 1995, pp. 62–63
  8. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 63
  9. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 73
  10. ^ Moffat 1995, pp. 104–106
  11. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 123
  12. ^ a b Moffat 1995, p. 130
  13. ^ a b The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (Map). Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. 1898. Retrieved October 23, 2022 – via Chicago-L.org.
  14. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 10–14
  15. ^ a b c 1895 Review, p. 264
  16. ^ 1895 Review, p. 267
  17. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 124
  18. ^ Borzo 2007, p. 43
  19. ^ a b c d e "New "L" Road Opens". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 54, no. 127. May 7, 1895. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Buck, Thomas (February 18, 1951). "1st Trains Run in New Subway Saturday Night". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 7. p. 1–21. Retrieved October 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 237
  22. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 241
  23. ^ a b c d Moffat 1995, p. 244
  24. ^ "New Lake Street Bridge". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 75, no. 49. February 26, 1916. p. 11. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Bridge Repairs to Require Lake St. 'L' Changes Today". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 94, no. 49. December 8, 1935. p. 1–27. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Moffat 1995, pp. 240–242
  27. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 261
  28. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 260
  29. ^ Chicago Transit Authority (October 1, 1947). "Today – they're all yours!". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 106, no. 235. p. 8. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Borzo 2007, p. 91
  31. ^ Borzo 2007, p. 92
  32. ^ 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. Retrieved November 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ CTA 1967, p. 9
  34. ^ CTA 1967, p. 5
  35. ^ CTA 1939, p. 16
  36. ^ a b Garfield, Graham. "Damen Tower". Chicago-L.org. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  37. ^ "Work Speeds on Building New Subway". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 108, no. 34. August 21, 1949. p. 3–1. Retrieved November 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ Nedella, Carola (March 5, 1951). "Results of Eliminating the Logan Square "L"". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 62. p. 1–20. Retrieved November 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ Serpico, Lillian (May 15, 1951). "Inconvenienced Riders". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 110, no. 116. p. 1–14. Retrieved November 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ CTA 1951, p. 1
  41. ^ a b c Garfield, Graham. "Paulina Connector". Chicago-L.org. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  42. ^ a b CTA 1954, p. 12
  43. ^ CTA 1954, p. 14
  44. ^ "Announces Congress Subway Plan System for Trains". Berwyn Life. Vol. 26, no. 70. Berwyn, Illinois. June 11, 1958. p. 5. Retrieved October 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ "A colorful inspiration at the CTA". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 148, no. 209. September 25, 1992. p. 1–22. Retrieved October 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  46. ^ "Demolish 70-Year-Old 'L'". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 118, no. 306. November 1, 1964. p. 10–9. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  47. ^ Groark, Virginia (June 23, 2006). "Pink Line set for its debut". Chicago Tribune. Vol. 160, no. 174. pp. 2–1 & 2–10. Retrieved October 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. ^ a b Moffat 1995, pp. 64–65
  49. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 60
  50. ^ 1895 Review, p. 268
  51. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 134
  52. ^ Moffat 1995, p. 66
  53. ^ Moffat 1995, pp. 58–60.
  54. ^ a b Moffat 1995, p. 115
  55. ^ Moffat 1995, pp. 254–255
  56. ^ a b Moffat 1995, p. 255
  57. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 28–31
  58. ^ a b CTA 1979, p. 13
  59. ^ Lind 1974, pp. 272 and 276
  60. ^ Lind 1974, p. 203
  61. ^ Lind 1974, p. 201
  62. ^ Lind 1974, p. 276
  63. ^ CTA 1979, p. 10
  64. ^ CTA 1979, p. 26
  65. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 10–14 & 27–29
  66. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 10–14 & 26–29
  67. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 13 & 29
  68. ^ a b CTA 1979, p. 14
  69. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 22 & 38
  70. ^ CTA 1979, pp. 6, 14, 22, 30, & 38

Works cited

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