Kostner (4400W/300N)
Kostner Avenue and Lake Street, West Garfield Park

Service Notes:

Lake Street Division

Quick Facts:

Address: TBD
Established: March 1894
Original Line: Lake Street Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: 44th Avenue
Skip-Stop Type: n/a
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

Kostner station, opened as 44th Avenue, was built in 1893-94 for the Lake Street Elevated Railroad, opened when the line was extended from California to Cicero in March 1894. The station used a different design than most of the original Lake Street Elevated stations, which were designed by the railroad's engineering staff with dual side platforms each with a station house in a Queen Anne style with Victorian Gothic style features. Like Cicero station adjacent to the west, 44th Avenue station was much simpler in both architecture and layout.

The station was located over Lake Street and had a single island platform between the tracks with a small enclosure at the west end of the platform for fare collection and control. A single, wide stairway connected the platform-level station house with a mezzanine level under the tracks, over the street. Mezzanine-level passages extended to each side of Lake Street, from which a set of stairs descended down to Lake Street on the northwest and southwest corners of the intersection.

44th Avenue was renamed Kostner Avenue in 1913; the station changed names with the street.

The station was closed in 1948 when the CTA revamped service on the Lake Street Line -- the first of a series of line-by-line service overhauls -- by closing 10 little-used stations and implementing A/B skip-stop service to speed up trains on the route. The station, along with Morgan, Racine, Damen, Oakley, Campbell, and Sacramento was demolished in early 1949. Prior to the start of wrecking work, all usable equipment, such as newer lumber, doors, and newer railings were removed for reuse elsewhere. Platform girders from the dismantled stations were reused to lengthen platforms at other "L" stations.