Garfield Park (3800W/600S)
Independence Boulevard and Harrison Street, West Garfield Park

Service Notes:

Garfield Line

Quick Facts:

Address: 615 S. Independence Blvd.
Established: June 19, 1895
Original Line: Metropolitan West Side Elevated, Garfield Park branch
Previous Names: Garfield

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

The Garfield station (later called Garfield Park station) was opened in 1895 as part of the initial stretch of the Met's Garfield Park branch. The station was located a half block south of Garfield Park on what was then called Garfield Boulevard. The street is now called Hamlin Boulevard and Independence Boulevard. The park is the branch's namesake.

Garfield Park station consisted of a station house at street level and dual side platforms at track level. The station house was set back from the street, and was originally probably typical of the Met designs on the Northwest and Garfield Park branches. Constructed of red pressed brick with stone sills and foundations, their vernacular style might best be described as Queen Anne-influenced with some Romanesque features. The stations' original design was highlighted by a semicircular bay/portico, a lattice pattern in the brick cornice, extensive terra cotta work including the word "entrance" above one door in the portico and "exit" above the other, dentals above the doors' story lights, and carved wooden beads flush with the building between the wooden brackets which support a wooden canopy over the portico.

The station's dual side platforms had canopies and railings typical of all Met stations: Designed into the railings were larger cast iron square plates with a stylized diamond design. The stairs and platforms were constructed of wood on a steel structure. Each platform had a short canopy in the center of the platform, covering the stairs and a small waiting area. The canopy frame was iron, with arched latticed supports and bracketed rafters, and hipped roofs of corrugated tin.

In the mid-1950s, work was undertaken to replace the Garfield Line with a new rapid transit line in the median of the Congress Expressway, parallel to a roughly a block from the Garfield Line. Garfield Park closed on September 20, 1953 when the Garfield Line was rerouted via temporary grade-level trackage along Van Buren between Sacramento and Aberdeen due to expressway construction. Garfield Park was not in the way of the construction project but was closed due to its low patronage to speed up service on the Garfield Line.

By August 1959, the station house and lower section of the stairs to the platforms had been removed. That month, the Chicago Transit Board awarded a $106,646 contract to Lipsett Steel Products, Inc. to demolish the remaining stairs, platforms, canopies, railings, flooring, cross girders, columns, brackets and stringers at Garfield Park and five other closed Garfield Park stations, as well as the elevated structure between Sacramento Blvd. and Lavergne Avenue.