Halsted (4100S/800W)
Halsted Street and Root Street, Canaryville (New City)

Service Notes:

Stock Yards Line

Quick Facts:

Address: TBD
Established: April 8, 1908
Original Line: South Side Elevated Railroad, Stock Yards branch
Previous Names: none
Skip-Stop Type: n/a
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

Halsted was one of only two stations on the Stock Yards branch located outside the Stock Yards. The line was built specifically to carry workers from their South Side homes to the Yards. It was never intended to reach the Loop; instead it was built to run shuttles to the Indiana Avenue station, which is just about all that even ran on the line.

By the mid-1950s, it was becoming apparent that falling ridership and increasing deterioration of the Stock Yards Line and its cousin, the Kenwood Line, would require some sort of immediate action. Three plans were formulated for how to continue service - purchasing the route from the Chicago Junction Railway (from whom CTA rented the property), leasing it from the CJRwy, and purchase by an outside agency for CTA use - but all of these included modernization of the Halsted station. As part of a $3,100 modernization plan covering both the Kenwood and Stock Yards Lines, drawings dated July 11, 1956 show that Halsted would have had its station house removed. A smaller space formally occupied by the station would have been black-topped with a drip pan installed on the elevated structure overhead. High barrier gates were to be installed around the new fare collection area, leading to the dual staircases up to the station platforms. A two-man agents booth, "fare-o-mats", and transfer dispensers were to be provided. In all, it would have probably looked similar to the chain link "stations" at Indiana, Lawrence, Wellington, and Hoyne today.

Other factors, however, would seal the Stock Yards Line's fate. Due to changes in the meat packing industry, the Union Stock Yards became redundant and outdated and were closed. Now with its main purpose gone, the Stock Yards branch followed suit, ending "L" service October 7, 1957.