Foster (2000N/900W)
Foster Street and Maple Avenue, City of Evanston

Service Notes:

Purple Line: Evanston

Quick Facts:

Address: 900 Foster Street
Established: May 16, 1908
Original Line: Northwestern Elevated Railroad, Evanston branch
Previous Names: none
Skip-Stop Type: All-Stop
Rebuilt: 1931
Status: In Use

History:

"L" service entered Evanston by way of an agreement to use the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway on May 16, 1908, replacing the steam service that the St. Paul had previously provided. The steam railroad's original station remained, though the "L" constructed a high-level platform station of simple frame construction, all of which was demolished during the elevation of the tracks in 1909. (as per the 1907 franchise agreement from the City of Evanston).

Foster and Noyes stations were rebuilt in 1931 at the same time as Central, when the line was elevated through north Evanston. There were Gerber station houses designed for Noyes and Foster that were similar to Central's, but they were never built. Instead, there were "temporary" wooden station houses below the tracks at Noyes and Foster where the permanent station houses would've been. These temporary station houses were removed in 1964, when the fare controls were moved up to platform level. The disused North Shore Line platforms, which were abandoned when the Shore Line Route was closed in 1955, were not removed until 1970.

In 1996, the CTA^® moved beyond the demonstration period of its new TransitCard Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) equipment and fare media and began installing AFC equipment at all of the rail stations. The first in-service station to receive the machines was Foster on the Purple Line. On March 29, 1996, the southbound berthing markers at Foster and the northbound markers at Noyes were relocated at 1500 hour to make room for the installation of the AFC equipment. The turnstiles at Foster were installed by Cubic personnel on April 9, 1996. AFC equipment was installed elsewhere around the "L" system throughout 1996 and fare collection completed migrating to the new system in 1997.