Lake Street Transfer station
| Company type | Rapid transit transfer station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public transportation |
| Founded | 1913 |
| Defunct | 1951 |
| Fate | Closed following opening of Dearborn Street subway |
| Headquarters | Chicago , United States |
The Lake Street Transfer station served as a rapid transit connection point on the Chicago "L", linking the Lake Street Elevated Railroad with the Logan Square branch of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. Located at the intersection where the Logan Square branch passed over the Lake Street Elevated, it remained operational from 1913 until its shutdown in 1951, which followed the inauguration of the Dearborn Street subway.
This transfer station was formed by merging two earlier stops: Wood on the Lake Street Elevated, established in 1893 one block west of where the transfer would later be built, and Lake on the Metropolitan’s Logan Square branch, which opened in 1895 at the future transfer site. These lines were originally constructed by different companies; their operational integration during the early 1910s necessitated a transfer facility at their crossing point, leading to Wood’s replacement by a new Lake Street platform situated beneath the Metropolitan tracks. The companies officially combined as the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924, with public control transferred to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) starting in 1947.
Although proposals for a downtown subway emerged in the late 1930s to enhance Logan Square service, after completing this subway in 1951, the CTA considered ongoing operation of the elevated branch redundant, which resulted in closing Lake Street Transfer. The location remains near where the Paulina Connector, a remnant of former Logan Square trackage, intersects with the Lake Street Elevated line—used for non-revenue movements until its revival by the Pink Line in 2006.
Architecturally, Lake Street Transfer featured a two-level design: Metropolitan tracks and platforms were positioned directly above those of the Lake Street Elevated. Passengers entered at street level onto the eastbound Lake Street platform, with staircases providing access to both Metropolitan platforms and to Lake Street’s westbound platform.
Wood station (Lake Street Elevated; 1893–1913)
The Lake Street Elevated Railway Company was initially incorporated on February 7, 1888, and later reorganized as the Lake Street Elevated Railroad Company on August 24, 1892, to address legal challenges. Its line began service at 5:00 a.m. on November 6, 1893, running between California station and the Market Street Terminal, including thirteen stations such as Wood Street. Originally utilizing steam locomotives for power, it transitioned to electric traction on May 9, 1896. Due to persistent financial struggles, it restructured as the Chicago and Oak Park Elevated Railroad (C&OP) on March 31, 1904.
Lake station (Metropolitan Elevated; 1895–1913)
The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company obtained a fifty-year franchise from the Chicago City Council on April 7, 1892. Unlike the single-route Lake Street Elevated, Metropolitan operated a main line extending west from downtown to Marshfield Junction, where it divided into three branches: northwest toward Logan Square (including a Humboldt Park branch), directly west to Garfield Park, and southwest toward Douglas Park. While initially planned for steam power, Metropolitan switched to electrification in May 1894, becoming America’s first revenue electric elevated railroad.
By mid-October 1894, tracks on the Logan Square branch reached Robey and were energized by April 1895 for testing purposes. Service officially started at 6:00 a.m. on May 6, 1895, between Robey and Canal stations, opening eleven stations including one located on Lake Street. The platforms at Lake station were notably elevated to cross above the tracks of the Lake Street Elevated line.
Transfer station (1913–1951)
In 1911, the four operators of the "L" system—C&OP, Metropolitan, South Side, and Northwestern Elevated Railroad—consolidated their operations under the umbrella of Chicago Elevated Railways (CER) while maintaining their individual corporate identities. By 1913, CER had unified crosstown services and implemented free transfers between lines, prompting the Metropolitan and C&OP companies to construct a transfer station at their track intersection. During this construction period, C&OP closed its nearby Wood station. Free transfers were initiated on November 3, 1913; initially, passengers transferred on foot between Wood and Metropolitan’s Lake stations until the new C&OP station was ready and Wood was permanently shuttered.
Throughout its lifespan, this transfer station played a crucial role in rerouting passengers during downtown line maintenance or construction interruptions, notably in February 1916 and December 1935.
While CER operated as an informal holding entity that centralized management, it preserved the distinct companies until their official merger into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924. Post-merger, the former C&OP and Metropolitan lines were designated as CRT’s Lake Street and Metropolitan Divisions respectively. Public control came into effect with the establishment of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in 1945, which assumed operation of the "L" on October 1, 1947.
Under CTA management, service enhancements included the introduction of skip-stop service on the Lake Street Elevated starting April 5, 1948. Stations between Pulaski and the Loop were classified as either "A" or "B" stops, with trains designated accordingly operating on weekdays. The Lake Street Transfer station was excluded from skip-stop operations and was served by all trains. Meanwhile, the nearby Ashland station was closed but remained physically intact. Skip-stop service on the Logan Square branch commenced only after the opening of the Dearborn Street subway and coincided with the closure of the transfer station in 1951.
Dearborn Street subway, closure, and demolition
Plans to build a subway system in Chicago aimed at mitigating congestion date back to the early 1900s; however, progress was slow. In 1937, Chicago applied to the Public Works Administration (PWA) for funding to construct a State Street subway. The original proposal featured two east-west streetcar tunnels downtown; nevertheless, PWA administrator Harold L. Ickes rejected these plans in favor of a second subway running beneath Dearborn Street and Milwaukee Avenue. This alternative provided a direct route from Logan Square into downtown. Despite resistance from local figures including Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly, the Dearborn subway plan was approved in 1938. A subsequent 1939 proposal suggested replacing the Metropolitan’s main line and Garfield Park branch with rapid transit embedded within a superhighway along Congress Street (which later became I-290), aiming to connect transit corridors through downtown rather than relying on a trunk-and-branch system.
Approval of this subway did not immediately render obsolete the existing Logan Square branch; plans from 1939 included linking it with the Ravenswood branch via a proposed Ashland Avenue crosstown subway. Damen Tower was reconstructed anticipating train transfers between subway and elevated lines similar to connections seen with the State Street subway. As late as 1949, commuters were assured this setup would preserve Logan Square elevated trackage. However, CTA showed no interest in maintaining these older elevated routes; Damen Tower never received switching apparatus, and once the Dearborn subway opened, service south of Damen on Logan Square ceased.
Although construction of the Dearborn subway reached approximately 82% completion by 1942, World War II caused work to halt until after hostilities ended. The subway eventually opened on February 25, 1951. Concurrently, Humboldt Park branch service was truncated to shuttle operations terminating at Damen. The Lake Street Transfer station closed while Ashland station on Lake Street reopened. Travel time from Logan Square to downtown was reduced dramatically from 28 minutes to just 15. Since Congress Line construction had not yet begun, trains terminated at LaSalle station. Despite some dissatisfaction over losing direct access to the Near West Side, ridership on the new subway surpassed that of the former Logan Square branch by more than 60% during its inaugural year. The segment of old Logan Square tracks south of the subway entrance became known as the Paulina Connector, linking it back into the wider "L" network.
Construction of the Congress Line started in 1954, temporarily isolating the Douglas branch from Loop access. To accommodate this change, the Paulina Connector south of Washington Boulevard reopened for service; north of Washington Boulevard, Metropolitan tracks were replaced by Washington Junction—a direct connection to Lake Street tracks adjacent to an abandoned station site. This junction employed an automatic interlocking system whereby Douglas Park trains carried electric coils to activate track switches—a mechanism not used by Lake Street trains. This arrangement continued until Congress Line completion in 1958 when Douglas branch trains began running directly onto it via the Dearborn subway, creating what became known as the "West-Northwest Route," later renamed as the Blue Line in 1992.
Following these developments, the Paulina Connector—including original Metropolitan trackage and Washington Junction—remained in non-revenue use. The northbound track beyond Washington Junction was removed in 1957 while limited use continued on the southbound track. To reduce fire risk and discourage trespassing, wooden materials from closed stations along this connector were dismantled in the late 1950s; remaining structures persisted into the mid-to-late 1960s. Due to infrequent utilization, most Metropolitan trackage north of Washington Junction was demolished in 1964 with rights-of-way sold off. The remaining portion of this connector returned to revenue service in 2006 as part of the Pink Line alongside the Douglas Park (Cermak) branch; Washington Junction now functions as a connection point between the Pink Line and today’s Green Line (Lake Street Elevated).
Station details
Prior to 1913, both Wood and Lake stations were equipped with a pair of wooden side platforms. Wood station featured two station buildings in the ornate Queen Anne style, characterized by decorative "gingerbread" trim and warmed by potbelly stoves. Ticket agents operated from booths recessed into alcoves next to the platforms. The construction contracts for the Lake Street Elevated's stations were awarded to Frank L. Underwood and Willard R. Green. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan’s Lake station included two wooden side platforms and a street-level station house made of red pressed brick accented with white limestone, designed in a manner similar to Logan Square branch stations such as California and Damen. This station showcased terra cotta embellishments, tin canopies with hipped roofs, and ornamental cast-iron railings. Unlike most "L" stations, those built by the Metropolitan featured central heating systems and basements.
Following the 1913 transfer completion, the C&OP erected new platforms extending westward, which had arched lattice canopies covering their eastern sections while leaving the western portions open. Midway along the Lake Street platforms, additional exits onto Hermitage Avenue were installed. The Metropolitan’s platforms and canopies were lengthened southward to align with the southern platform of Lake Street, and a new station house was constructed on the southern side of Lake Street before 1917; the original structure was repurposed for storage. This final double-decked station configuration combined Metropolitan’s upper-level side platforms with the lower-level side platforms of the Lake Street Elevated. Access to the Lake Street platforms was provided via stairways from the station house, which were connected by four inter-platform stairwells leading to the Metropolitan platforms above. It is believed that direct entry from the station house was only available to the southern eastbound Lake Street platform, while passengers wishing to reach the northern westbound platform had to traverse across the Metropolitan platforms.
Throughout their operational period, both Lake Street and Metropolitan Elevated lines maintained two tracks each near the transfer point, resulting in a total of four tracks at this station. Additionally, the Lake Street Elevated incorporated a third track west of Rockwell Street designated for storing non-revenue cars. Due to complexities arising from coordinating construction between two companies, Lake Street Elevated engaged Underwood and Green to build stations and tracks west of Ashland Avenue. The Metropolitan’s track work was executed by West Side Construction Company—whose executives also served as officers of the Metropolitan—and engineered by E. W. Elliot using steel supplied by Carnegie Steel Company. The tracks were arranged in a double-decked fashion consistent with the overall station design.
Operations and connections
At its inception, Metropolitan trains operated at six-minute intervals from 6:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., shifting to ten-minute intervals overnight, maintaining an average frequency throughout service hours. In contrast with the Lake Street Elevated, all Metropolitan motor cars allowed smoking until a citywide prohibition was enacted in 1918 due to an influenza epidemic; this ban remains enforced today. The C&OP had previously prohibited smoking on its trains starting in 1909.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fares were legally fixed at five cents but temporarily increased to six cents in 1917 before stabilizing at ten cents in 1920. Beginning in 1922, fare promotions offered three rides for twenty-five cents (approximately $0.083 per ride), while single rides continued at ten cents each. That same year marked the introduction of a weekly pass priced at $1.25, making it one of the first major U.S. cities outside Evanston and Wilmette to provide such an option. Initially, fare enforcement relied on station agents working continuously; however, conductors were introduced on the Lake Street line during off-peak hours starting in 1921 and became regular thereafter from 1925 onward. On the Metropolitan line, conductors were employed between 1931 and 1937.
The transfer station at Lake Street provided connections to streetcar service along Lake Street, which was merged with State Street service extending down to 63rd Street in 1924 under the designation "Through Route" (T.R.) 16. Unlike many other Chicago streetcar lines, T.R. 16 did not operate overnight service; its final northbound car departed at 12:35 a.m., while daytime headways ranged between eight and fifteen minutes per car. Following closure of the transfer station, streetcar service on Lake Street was truncated away from downtown in November 1953 and subsequently replaced by bus operations in May 1954.
Ridership
Prior to the establishment of the transfer, annual passenger numbers at the Metropolitan's Lake station hovered around 250,000, reaching a maximum of 296,116 in 1905. The Wood station on the Lake Street line exhibited comparable patterns, with its highest ridership recorded at 441,045 in the same year. Following the opening of the transfer, ridership from both lines balanced out closely, although Lake Street consistently maintained a slight lead each year.
In 1936, which is the final year for which Lake Street-specific data exists, the transfer station logged 94,688 riders from Lake Street and 87,533 from the Metropolitan line, combining for a total of 182,221 passengers. The subsequent year’s Metropolitan ridership was reported as 181,909, suggesting that later figures were merged under the Metropolitan's statistics. The Metropolitan continued to monitor transfer ridership through 1948; that year recorded 361,934 riders—a substantial increase of 69.48% compared to 213,561 in 1947. Throughout the 1940s, the transfer's standing among Northwest branch stations shifted notably—from ranking second-lowest in 1940 to becoming the third-highest in 1948, trailing only behind Damen and Chicago stations. In terms of overall "L" system ridership, it was positioned 122nd out of 223 stations in 1948, improving from 174th out of 222 in the previous year.