The mezzanine-level station of Harrison, looking east in the unpaid area on July 26, 2002. The original off-white structural glass tiles were replaced with off-the-shelf white tiles by the CTA recently, including over the stone cladding of the agent's booth. The black granite columns were also painted white, all to try and make the mezzanine brighter. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

Harrison (600S/0E-W)
Harrison Street and State Street, South Loop (Near South Side)

Service Notes:

Red Line: State Street Subway

Owl Service

Quick Facts:

Address: 608 S. State Street
Established: October 17, 1943
Original Line: State Street Subway
Previous Names: none

Skip-Stop Type:

Station (1949-1978)

Station (1978-1995)
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: In Use

History:

Like all of the station's on the State Street Subway (except North/Clybourn), Harrison has a subterranean, mezzanine-level station fare control area accessible from the street by stairways. In an informational book published in October 1943 by the Department of Subways and Superhighways entitled Chicago Subways, the State Street Subway stations are described as "outstanding examples of modern architectural treatment."

The closed Polk exit from Harrison station, looking south on July 6, 1971. For a larger view, click here. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)
Architecturally somewhere between Art Deco and Art Moderne, the mezzanine station had smooth concrete floors and ceilings and white glazed tile walls (sometimes referred to as "structural glass"). The fare control booths are of stone walls with a small ventilation grate near the bottom and glass windows on all four sides. Turnstiles were steel (now replaced with new TransitCard fare controls). The island platform has red no-slip concrete floors, curved concrete ceilings and I-beam steel columns. Fluorescent lights and illuminated station signs hanging from the ceilings (the latter now removed) finished the decoration.

Harrison originally had an auxiliary exit to Polk Street at the south end of the island platform for the convenience of passengers using the station to get to Dearborn Station -- one-time passenger terminal for several railroads including the Santa Fe, Erie Railroad, Monon Route, Grand Trunk Railroad, Chicago and Eastern Illinois, and Wabash Railroad -- one block west. The exit consisted of stairs up to a mezzanine level, where there were rotogates in a hallway (there was no ticket agent or entry access here), then two sets of stairs to the street. They were built so that one of the two exit-only rotogates could replaced with a coin-operated entrance high-barrier gate, but this was never done here or at any of the auxiliary subway exits. The Polk exit to Harrison was closed on June 27, 1968, the same day that the Ohio exit from Grand/State closed.

Today, the island platform has pretty good historic integrity and the mezzanine is intact structurally, but the finishes have been completely modified, leaving little of the original wall cladding left. Square white tiles were installed on the mezzanine wall surfaces circa 2000, replacing the original 1940s finishes. The stone agent booth were also clad with tiles. The entrances at street-level remained intact, with sign and advertising boxes encasing the original Art Deco entrance kiosk, until 2006. The closed Polk exit was hidden at platform level by a new storage room constructed at the south end of the platform at some undetermined time many years ago, while the street-level stairs were removed and paved over.

In 2006, the station name signs and column signs on the platform were replaced, with Current Graphic Standard signs replacing the KDR Standard graphics as part of a signage upgrade project on the Red Line. As part of this effort, the station also received granite compass roses inset into the sidewalk in front of the station entrances to assist customers leaving the station to navigate their way, and three-sided galvanized steel pylons in the mezzanine and on the platform to display maps and station timetables. Finally, the original 1943 street level entrance railings were replaced with new galvanized steel railings and Current Graphic Standard entrance signs.

In January 2008, nearby Columbia College and Jones College Prep adopted the Harrison station through the CTA's Adopt-A-Station program. As part of the adoption, students decorated the mezzanine and platform columns with colored shapes and poems cut in vinyl. Columbia officials decided on the "Harrison Haiku" theme at the suggestion of the college's English department. The vision was executed with the help of high school students from Jones, who were invited to submit haiku on city and urban themes over the last year. One, located in the mezzanine, is even "L"-related: "Why do people get/off at Clark & Lake? It's not/as great as it seems." Blossoms and blooms -- or at least graphic designs of them -- greet commuters as they enter and exit the station. The haiku are featured prominently between the large red flowers and bright green and white tiles. A dedication for the adoption and artwork was held at Harrison on January 30, 2008, celebrating completing the first phase of the Harrison Haiku project -- the poems in the mezzanine. Columbia and the CTA plan to expand the haiku and designs beyond the mezzanine onto the platform in Spring 2009.

Continuing to upgrade and replace some of the oldest escalators in the CTA system, the Chicago Transit Board approved a $642,569 design contract for the replacement of 10 Loop subway escalators on June 4, 2003. The design work is the precursor to replacing the units with new escalators. The escalators pegged for replacement include seven on the Red Line, including one at Harrison, and three on the Blue Line. Chicago-based Globetrotters Engineering Corporation was selected to provide architectural and engineering services for the project following a competitive bidding process.

The work to replace the escalator at Harrison will begin in late 2008. At the same time, additional improvement work is being undertaken at the station, including the installation of a new Customer Assistant booth in the main entrance mezzanine. The CTA is also renovating and reopening one of the Polk auxiliary exit stairs to increase convenience for CTA customers in the burgeoning South Loop neighborhood and to provide additional egress while the Harrison escalator is out of service for replacement. The Polk exit from the platform will be reopened, as will the small mezzanine-level landing. Both will be rehabilitated, including new lighting and fare controls. The Polk mezzanine will be equipped with a High-Barrier Gate (HBG) for farecard-only entry, making Polk the auxiliary entry to Harrison it was originally planned to allow for but never executed until now. Only one of the two stairways to the street -- to the southwest corner of Polk and State -- will be reopened. A new subway kiosk will be built at street-level. The entrance is scheduled to open by the end of 2009. Funding for the renovations is provided through federal capital funds.

 

The island platform at Harrison looking south on July 26, 2002. With the exception of some new lights and signs and a white paint job, the platform is still substantially as-built in 1943. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

harrison.polk01.jpg (76k)
One of the two Polk auxiliary exit stairs, looking north at the stairs on the east side of State Street on July 6, 1971. The exit had been closed for three years at this point; the stairs would later be removed and paved over. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)

harrison.polk03.jpg (117k)
View of the same location as above on Friday, August 2, 2002, at the former location of the Polk street auxiliary exit. The stairway has been sealed and there is little evidence of its existence. Note that the mission is still on State Street, with the same religious advertisement on the wall on the left side of the street. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

harrison01.jpg (81k)
One of two street-level entrances to the mezzanine station at Harrison -- this one on the southeast corner of Harrison & State -- looking south on July 26, 2002. Besides the railings being painted red and the addition of the sign and advertisement box on the Art Deco kiosk, the entrance is well intact historically, largely as-built in 1943. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

harrison03.jpg (85k)
A northbound Red Line train of rehabbed 2600s enters Harrison on its way to Howard, looking south on July 26, 2002. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

harrison05.jpg (64k)
The Polk exit long closed, a storage room and other utility areas were built over the entrance and covering about 50 feet at the south end of the platform. This view looks south at the storage area at the south end of the platform on July 26, 2002. (Photo by Andrew Stiffler)

harrison06.jpg (128k)
The entrance to the stairs and escalator from the platform to the mezzanine is one of the most historically-intact aspects of Harrison station, as seen here looking north on September 30, 2002. The stairs, railings, and escalator housing are all original, as are the illuminated sign boxes over the doorway. Even the glass sign plates are original. The tile on the exterior of the enclosure, wrapping around behind the stairs, is also still original, including the inlaid "Harrison" station name. Perhaps the only modification is the clock/advertising panel , installed by CTA's® advertising contractor. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

harrison_signSB.jpg (61k)
A KDR-type symbol sign from Harrison station, with its green background denoting its status as a "B" station. (Sign from the Andrew Stiffler Collection)

harrison07.jpg (240k)
In 2006, the two street-level entrances had their original 1943 railings replaced with new galvanized steel railings and a new backlit entrance sign. The railings were installed on the original granite base s in March 2006, followed by the backlit sign boxes in August. The west stair is seen looking southeast on September 3, 2006. (Photo by Graham Garfield)