Halsted (800W/400S)
Halsted Street and Van Buren Street, Near West Side

Service Notes:

Garfield Park/Douglas Lines

Quick Facts:

Address: TBD
Established: May 6, 1895
Original Line: Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: none

Skip-Stop Type:		Station (1951-1953)
		Station (1953-1958)

Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

The Halsted station was opened in 1895 when the Metropolitan "L" first opened. It was located on the four-track Metropolitan main line, on which all three branches of the Met -- the Northwest branch, Garfield Park branch, and Douglas Park branch -- entered downtown Chicago. An large S-curve was located just east of the station, which was a popular location for railfan photos, especially after the surrounding buildings were cleared for the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway.

The station consisted of a station house at street level and two island platforms at track level, allowing trains on all four track to call at the station.

In 1951, trains to and from Logan Square (later extended to Jefferson Park in 1970, then to O'Hare in 1984) were rerouted from their Milwaukee-Paulina alignment to Marshfield into the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway, which continued under Milwaukee, under Lake Street, then under Dearborn, later connecting to the Congress-Douglas trains under Congress Street upon that alignment's completion in 1958. Garfield Park and Douglas Park trains to and from the Loop, however, continued to operate over the old Met main line and through Halsted for the time being.

In 1953, the Garfield Park Line was rerouted via temporary grade-level trackage along Van Buren due to expressway construction, returning to the old elevated main line at Aberdeen. Halsted remained open throughout the highway construction project. The station was closed in 1958 when the replacement Congress Line in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway opened a few hundred feet to the south. A replacement station, UIC-Halsted, was opened in the Congress Line.

UIC-halsted07.jpg (158k) This view looking east from the Peoria Street overpass shows the Congress rapid transit line in the highway's median under construction on June 14, 1958. The "L" line is nearly ready for service and the ramp and station house at Halsted Street are visible on the right. On the left, the old Garfield Park line, which will close about a week later when the Congress Line opens, serves its final days for commuters as a 2-car 6000-series train enters the station en route to downtown. (Photo by George Krambles, courtesy of the Krambles-Peterson Archive)

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