5th Annual Historic “L” Station Tour October 26, 2003 Presented By: Chicago-L.org Evolution of the West Side “L” Lines Legend N t d n O Station Route n m o Route a r e l e R Abandoned Abandoned a l r m In Use r e e H T or Demolished or Demolished a s b ’ H o H Metropolitan Elevated m O R u Jefferson bult 1895-1930 C Park Dearborn Subway The evolution of rapid transit on the West Side can be ONE MILE bult 1951 confusing due to the complexity of its history, especially Congress Line bult 1958-1960 concerning routings. Montrose Kennedy Extension bult 1970 The main difference is that whereas today the lines on the Northwest Irving Park O'Hare Extension and West sides are through-routed via downtown, originally all lines from Pulaski bult 1983-1984 the Northwest and West sides entered downtown over common trackage Other Route and terminated on the Loop. The routes were similar to a fork, with a thick Addison Shown for reference stem and prongs at the end. Auxiliary station entrance Entry for farecards, passes, permits Belmont Beginning in 1951 with the opening of the subway and finishing in 1958 with the Former auxiliary entrance opening of the Congress Line, the routes were through routed into the West-Northwest Now closed, abandoned or demolished Route. Now, the route was similar in shape to a horseshoe, with the line beginning and Logan Square ending on the West Side. This routing continues today at the CTA Blue Line. Logan Square California t e l s d i FLOW OF l a u o d e i o TRAFFIC b n Western z L k m w d r . t u a e a S L H P FLOW OF TRAFFIC K a n Damen i HUMBOLDT r n e PARK r t s BRANCH o f e i l W a Division C Division Downtown-West Side Routing Downtown-West Side Routing Chicago Chicago NORTH SIDE 1895 - 1954 1958 - present Grand MAIN LINE Grand . Lake St. Transfer . ve . A LAKE LINE LAKE LINE ve ve A d h l . t A e LOOP h d 5 n i n Madison e l t k r f h ve e Bellwood 2 r a o ELEVATED n t 7 n i h - e e t r n i s GARFIELD i A a n t s 1 1 m l s k e r n e a c d l P r l i s n f (Downtown a 1 s e y e r e h PARK C e e r a l a z i e a l t a a k o a d station names e r m u l o m d R a BRANCH p L 5 a H M n K b a n m H r W r W o o not shown) u i e ES o T p C t a u e t H O i E H S b P m T K H H E r R l r s c B n G i R i A o N a T C u H e L K C L C Harrison A n s e n o a d n e k i l a r t i l a o r r ve e n t t g i m a e n m k k i s n n e t e A a i r n i S i o l r r k C r n i e ve t c SOUTH SIDE s r e o P l l z a e s l o u u a a d s y A l l n a o e r Polk e L C L r a o i t d a M l a o MAIN LINE c P P t f e m a n o l a FOREST R r a P t r n s i , s e L i a c g H l , a b u s t e H a k a H d i e r W r . - C K PARK i r l n s a c r P E u t t r a m d i e C c e Roosevelt ve o o o S o I C i n A BRANCH e O Roosevelt C a a f m L e F K e U L r a P S M a C D G k . d a i 14th Place e r . k n e r k ve e ve t ve e i e r i m a a s C A A l n r a A k d Canterbury o m n t a l m e e i h h P i l h r a a s t t d t t a r g r K C e u 18th o 7 9 s k 4 r n / a d c P 4 4 D 5 L K i u a i 2 a 4 R L 6 A C 5 O a k n e n e k n e d . i . i . l r r r n Mannheim & 22nd e a CERMAK z n o n y a e a a r d ve m ve o t o o ve P m BRANCH P d e t s o a H A A l A f o n K e s W n i D a h l h H a e r w h t t W l a t t K 8 a 6 g C n 0 L 5 5 u e 5 C o D Map produced for www.Chicago- .org 5th Annual Historic “L” Station Tour Guide Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway The tour begins at LaSalle/Congress station in the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway. This was one of two subways built for Chicago beginning in the Depression -- the other being the State Street Subway on today's Red Line - - and while they were started at the same time, the opening of the Dearborn route was delayed by 8 years after the State Street route came into use. Federal dollars made available by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs during the Great Depression made the construction of the subways possible, allowing Chicago to carry out a civic improvement it'd long planned for but been able to get off the ground. Work on the Milwaukee-Dearborn tubes began in March 1939. Chicago built its subways using the deep bore method, widely used on the London subway tubes. The track in each direction were contained in separate tubes, each dug with its own boring shield twenty-five feet in diameter. Each tunnel was then backed up with continuous steel liner plates and ribs, reinforced with steel bars, and covered with concrete. While the subway was under construction, world events took a critical turn. Subway Route No. 2 (Milwaukee-Dearborn), which was 80% complete in 1942, was mothballed after the war began due to wartime labor and materials rationing, but Route No. 1 (State Street) was classified as an essential wartime transportation link for defense plant workers and was allowed to continue. Completion of the stations was delayed by a materials shortage due to rationing for World War II. The City would not return to work on the Dearborn Subway for several years, leaving the partially completed tubes mothballed under the city streets. Finally, in late 1945, work resumed on the subway. Twelve years after beginning the project, Chicago's second subway was ready for operation. An opening ceremony was held on February 24, 1951 presided Mayor Kennelly cuts the ribbon on the new Dearborn Subway, with the over by Mayor Martin Kennelly, who cut a red, white, help of radio and film cowboy Monte Bleu, as reporters look on at the and blue ribbon stretched across one track with a large ceremonial opening on February 24, 1951. (Photo from CTA Collection) pair a sheers at Washington station. The Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway officially opened for revenue service after midnight on February 25, 1951. The Milwaukee-Dearborn tubes gave the Logan Square branch (see next section) a more direct route to downtown, entering from the northwest rather than the more circuitous approach from the southwest via the old Metropolitan main line. It would also allow a through-routing of the Logan Square line with the Garfield Park and Douglas Park lines, rather than having all three enter via common trackage (the Met main line) and terminate on the Loop, providing better service between neighborhoods and decreasing the number of train movements necessary to serve all three lines. The architecture of the stations was streamlined Art Moderne with some Art Deco elements. All of the stations have their fare controls at a lower mezzanine level. The mezzanine station houses had smooth concrete floors and ceilings and off-white glazed ceramic tile walls. Each station also had several amenities for the use of passengers, such as public phones, lockers, restrooms, and concessions. All stations had island platforms. The platforms had red no-slip concrete floors, curved concrete ceilings and I-beam steel columns. Unlike some of the more ornate subways in other cities, the walls along side the tracks in the stations were left as unfinished concrete rather than tiled. To aid in station identification, each station had a color scheme that was used in the accents like tile borders, platform column color, and signage lettering and background.