51st (5100S/300E)
51st Street and Prairie Avenue, Grand Boulevard/Washington Park

Service Notes:

	Green Line: South Side Elevated
	Accessible Station

Quick Facts:

Address: 319 E. 51st Street
Established: August 29, 1892
Original Line: South Side Rapid Transit
Previous Names: none

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: 1996-97
Status: In Use

History:   The entrance to the current 51st Street station. Unlike the new, simple structures built at 35th, 43rd and 47th Streets, the 51st Street station is decorated in white tile with green highlights, denoting its place on the Green Line. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Linda Garfield) The original 51st Street station was designed by architect Myron H. Church and engineered by R.I. Sloan and was built in 1892 when the South Side Rapid Transit extended its tracks to Jackson Park for the 1893 World's Fair. The station building was a grade-level structure, identical to the structure still at Garfield, and those now removed from Indiana, 58th, and 61st. The structure was built by the Rapid Transit and Bridge Construction Company of brick with stone sills and foundation with some subtle influences the Queen Anne style and included polychrome brickwork along the roof line and a signature bay with a half-cone roof on front. The standard South Side Rapid Transit platform was a wooden deck and treads on a steel structure with a canopy of steel posts supporting a tin roof. 51st Street became an AB station in 1949 and, with Garfield a B station (until 1982) and 58th an A station, 51st became the first transfer point (or last, depending on your direction of travel) between the Englewood and Jackson Park branches. In mid-1990, 51st station closed to have its platform canopies removed. It is unclear if the original 1892 station house still remained at this time (it seems likely it did not), but whatever station was here was demolished during the Green Line's 1994-96 renovation and replaced with the current white and green tile station house and white steel and glass platform. When the Green Line reopened in mid-1996, the elevator shaft and most of the ground-level structure was still just a skeleton. The station was not complete until mid-1997, a year after the Green Line reopened. The station house is a white tile building with a green stripe beneath the tracks, with an elevator shaft and open air stairs to the platforms. The platforms flank the tracks with a white steel canopy that spans the whole width, with an opening down the middle to allow in sunlight. Given the stop's close proximity to Garfield and 47th Street, it is commendable that the CTA not only retained this stop (in contrast to station closings elsewhere), but built an impressive, apparently expensive station to boot.

Above: The original 1892 51st Street station, now gone. (Photo from the Charles E. Keevil/Walter R. Keevil Collection)

	51stSign.jpg A 51st Street symbol sign, post-1993 route realignment. (Sign from the collection of Graham Garfield)
	51st02.jpg (35k) A full view of the current 51st station, looking west. The tall structure on the left houses the elevator shaft and a glass covered staircase on the platform. (Photo by Linda Garfield.)
	51st04.jpg (113k) The 51st station is still clearly unfinished on opening day in May, 1996. A temporary staircase was needed just to access the platform; at the time of this view looking north, the stairs from the station house are still closed and the elevator tower is just a steel skeleton. (Photo from Chicago's "L"/Subway System: Take a Ride on the Wild Side from All-the-6000s-You-Missed Productions)
	51st05.jpg (109k) Although the station house, stairs and elevator are still under construction, the platform of 51st Street is virtually complete in this view soon after opening day in May, 1996. (Photo from Chicago's "L"/Subway System: Take a Ride on the Wild Side from All-the-6000s-You-Missed Productions)
	51st07.jpg A view of 51st's new, modern platforms in 1999. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)