The reconfigured entrance to Howard station, looking west on Howard Street on October 22, 1964, shortly after the renovations were completed. The green tiling covered up the original Prairie School details on the exterior. For a larger view, click here. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)

Howard (7600N/1700W)
Howard Street and Hermitage Avenue, Rogers Park

Service Notes:

Red Line: Howard

Purple Line: Evanston

Yellow Line: Skokie Swift

Transfer Station

Park'n'Ride: 634 spaces

Owl Service (Red Line only)

Quick Facts:

Address: 1649 W. Howard Street
Established: May 16, 1908
Original Line: Northwestern Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: Howard Avenue

Skip-Stop Type:

Station
Rebuilt: 1921, 1964 (Station house remodeled)
Status: In Use

History:

Car 51, assigned to Skokie Swift service, loads passengers at Howard on August 18, 1970. The plexiglas panels divide the Howard platform into different paid areas. At this time, the Skokie and Evanston Lines had a higher fare for through riders from the city. The fare differential was paid at an agent booth on the platform. For a larger view, click here. (Collection of Joe Testagrose)
Today, Howard plays an integral part in the "L" system as an important transfer station. But, this wasn't always the case.

"L" service first entered north Chicago and Evanston by way of an agreement to use the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway's tracks on May 16, 1908, replacing the steam service that the St. Paul had previously provided. The Chicago City Council authorized the electrification of the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad's tracks from Graceland Avenue (Irving Park Road) to the city limits on July 1, 1907. Unlike Evanston (as per the 1907 franchise agreement from the city), they did not require that the grade-level tracks be elevated, but they did prohibit the use of a third rail for safety's sake, necessitating the use of overhead trolley wire.

In the mid-1910s, the Northwestern began to elevate the tracks north of Wilson, but work was slow due to the city's refusal to close intersecting streets and the narrow right-of-way. In early 1916, trains were moved onto a temporary trestle, but construction of a permanent embankment had to wait until the end of World War I due to a materials shortage. By early 1922, the new four track mainline was completed, allowing full express service to the city limits.

Looking south from the overhead passenger transfer bridge, this photo offers a good view of the platforms of the Howard "L" station in August 1997. A 2600-series train stops on the northbound platform (left) while a 3200-series Skokie Swift train drops off passengers on the southbound platform. The yellow poles sticking out of the platform canopies supported overhead trolley wires for when the Evanston Line ran off overhead wire, as did the North Shore Electric Line, which used the tracks from 1925 to 1963. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Jon Bell)
Because of construction delays, the first Howard Avenue (later changed to Howard Street) "L" stop, a simple grade-level wood-frame station and modest platform, didn't open until August 23, 1908, three months after the Northwestern "L" began service over the line. This station appears to have remained until elevation, when a new station was built. The north side of the Howard viaduct, built in the Doric/Beaux-Arts tradition with Terra Cotta execution, bears a strong resemblance to the work of Arthur U. Gerber at South Blvd. in 1929 and Sheridan in 1924,suggesting that he designed this station. This side was used by interurban passengers when the North Shore Line began service here in 1919. The station entrance on the south side of the street resembles Charles Rawson's north side stations (see Argyle, Thorndale and others), which would seem to establish him as the architect there. This station was used by intracity "L" passengers and had more modest amenities than the North Shore Line station across the street. Rawson's station remained virtually untouched as late as 1950.

In 1919, Howard began its life as an important transfer station when the CER changed routing so that some Jackson Park trains ended their run at Howard instead of in Evanston, requiring passengers who wanted to continue north to switch trains. In 1925, after the Skokie Valley route opened, Howard became even busier, as Skokie trains rarely, if ever, went beyond this station into Chicago. When the CTA revised service in 1949, Skokie trains ceased service, but all trains from the South Side ended their runs at Howard and the Linden-Howard shuttle was instituted, requiring all northbound passengers to switch trains. In 1964, the Skokie trains returned.

The 1920s station and platforms remain today, though the street-side facade on the station is in a severe state of disrepair. Gerber's North Shore Line station closed in 1963 when the interurban ceased service. It was later used as a CTA crew room and also housed the Lost and Found office, but when the roof began to leak after the yard was rebuilt in 1991 (see below), the space was abandoned. It currently sits boarded. Rawson's "L" station on the south side of the street remain in use today, but in a severely disfigured state. Features have been added and removed, walls have been moved, and an escalator added. The walls inside have been covered with a tan tile in the 1960s and the outside is indistinguishable as Rawson's work.

The front entrance to Howard station in 1999. Save for the illuminated sign over the doors, it has changed little since its 1964 renovation (see top photo). For a larger view, click here. (Photo from the CTA Collection)
It was rumored that a station refurbishment or new station, as well as a direct-entrance skywalk, were originally part of the plan for the new Gateway Plaza shopping complex being built adjacent to the station on Howard and Clark Streets. While the construction of this complex (originally to have a Dominick's Grocery Store [a major Chicago chain, for out-of-towners], a Barnes and Noble and a major movie multiplex, though of those three only the Dominick's is a tenant) will be a series shot in the arm to Rogers Park (and especially shabby Howard Street), a similar complex with a new integrated transit center was proposed in 1990, but never built.

Howard has contained a yard and shop of some sort since 1919, although for a long time it was modest and small, as the main north side shop was at Wilson. In 1991, the Howard yard and shops were rebuilt and reconfigured, significantly modernized and enlarged. This included a new inspection facility and a modern solid-state microprocessor-controlled interlocking plant. The contraction of this facility, which replaced the vintage 1900 shop at Wilson which was just torn down in 1997, tried passengers' and employees' patience, as it took quite some time. The reconfiguration was part of the 1993 route realignment, which linked the Howard line with the Dan Ryan and the Lake with the Englewood-Jackson Park, previously the other way around since 1969.

On June 6, 2005, the CTA® launched a pilot program at eight rail stations (as well as on 10 of its wide-door Nova buses) to help speed boarding for customers by dedicating one turnstile as an express fare payment lane (called a "Go Lane") for those paying with either Chicago Card (regular or Plus) smartcard fare media. The dedicated lanes are identified by signs over the turnstile and on the floor in front of it. The eight selected rail stations in addition to Howard were Chicago, 79th and 95th/Dan Ryan on the Red Line; Jefferson Park on the Blue Line; and both the Thompson Center and 203 N. LaSalle entrances to Clark/Lake, the Randolph-Washington mezzanine of Washington/State, and the Randolph-Washington mezzanine of Washington/Dearborn downtown. CTA® chose these stations because they are geographically balanced and serve a high volume of customers who transfer between bus and rail.

The pilot was conducted to determine if providing a dedicated turnstile at stations would help to speed boarding and, therefore, speed service. The pilot also provided an additional incentive for customers to switch to Chicago Card fare options. The faster and easier the boarding process, the more the transit experience is improved for existing customers. Faster boarding also helps to attract new customers.

CTA® monitored the Go Lane boarding times during morning and evening rush periods to measure time saved during boarding, as well as the ratio of customers using electronic fare media compared to cash or transit cards. Customer reaction and ease of use were also evaluated as part of the pilot to determine whether use of Go Lanes should expand.

 

Plans for a New Howard Terminal

As part of the CTA's® 2004-2008 Capital Improvement Plan, funding is provided for the reconstruction of Howard station and reconstruction of the bus terminal and parking. Funding in this CIP completes design efforts for Howard station and once design is completed, reconstruction efforts for Howard station will be completed within this window.

The TranSystems Corp. engineering firm is leading the design project, in association with Parsons and Architrave Ltd.

This August 3, 2003 view looking southeast on Paulina Avenue shows the open space -- between the commercial strip on the left and the parking garage on the right -- where the new Howard station's primary entrance will go. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
According to designs the CTA® presented to the public, the new station will be a three story complex with multiple entrances. The new main entrance will be on Paulina Avenue in a large piece of land adjacent to the west side of the embankment between the newly-built commercial structures to the north and the new parking garage to the south (both part of the larger overall plan). This entrance will be a three-story building with a Transportation Office, trainroom, clerk's office, classrooms, and other employee and training facilities spread on all three levels. The vertical access from the ground level will deposit passengers on the second level at the front of the building, which according to current designs is an open glass facade. Clear elevators and large windows to increase visibility and reduce the probability of crime problems are included at the request of area residents, who have voiced concerns about these issues at public meetings. A direct accessway leads to the adjacent parking garage. Escalators, elevators and stairs bring passengers to a mezzanine level on the third floor that extends above and over the four tracks and two island platforms of the new Howard terminal. It is here that the fare controls, customer assistant, and farecard AVMs are to be located. From this level, stairs, escalators, and elevators will bring passengers down to the two island platforms.

Although the new primary station entrance will be on Paulina, there will still be access from Howard Street. The current Howard entrance will be completely refurbished. The interior will be thoroughly remodeled and made more spacious. The front facade is to be given an unusual treatment: The circa 1921 Prairie School design executed by Charles Rawson when the station was originally built -- which was destroyed in a 1960s "modernization" -- is to be replicated and put back. This includes the brick facing, Prairie pilasters, stone sills and ornamentation, and multi-paned doors. The 1920s Beaux-Arts Arthur Gerber-designed facade across the street, originally built for the North Shore Line interurban, is also to be preserved and become an auxiliary exit from the north ends of both platforms. This station house served functions such as a trainroom and lost & found after the interurban's abandonment in 1963.

The track level will remain two island platforms and four tracks, but little else will remain the same. The platforms will be rebuilt and none of the existing platform or canopy fabric will remain. The new station will have a new canopy system.

Above: The shed, sidewalks, and signage for the new Howard bus terminal is largely complete in this October 26, 2002 view looking south. For a larger view, click here.

Below: Looking south on July 26, 2003 at the same view, the work completed the weekend before on the overhead pedestrian walkway is visible in front of the bus terminal, connecting to the garage's second level. For a larger view, click here. (Photos by Graham Garfield)
The first part of the project to be constructed was the new park'n'ride garage and bus terminal to the west of the station. These projects were completed independent of the reconstruction of the rapid transit station itself. The grade-level park'n'ride lot was closed in summer 2001 and moved into a new parking garage on Rogers Avenue, just south of the station. As part of the project, the terminal's "temporary" crew room, which was located in a large mobile trailer, was removed. The terminal's crew room is now located in the ground level of the parking garage. The bus terminal canopy, erected in the 1960s, was removed when the off-street bus terminal closed in 2001.

In this space, a new street, busway, bus terminal, and commercial/retail buildings were constructed. Hermitage Avenue, which ran due south from the west side of the "L" embankment at Howard Street (as opposed to following the angled right-of-way southeast), was closed in early 2002. Until late March 2002, CTA® and Pace buses that serve Howard station stopped along Hermitage Avenue, which was closed to public vehicular traffic when the old bus terminal closed. This street was later vacated and removed, with new commercial structures erected in its place. A new street was constructed that follows the "L" right-of-way southeast from Howard Street for about a half block, then turns due south to Rogers Avenue. This new street is called "Paulina Avenue", rather than Hermitage. This new street was nearly complete as of February 2002, as were new off-street bus berthing lanes next to the new park'n'ride garage and commercial spaces along the elevated embankment. Old-fashion-style "Gateway 2000" street lights (popular elsewhere in streetscape reconstructions around Chicago) had already been installed and the concrete road surface and curbs had been laid. Some of the concrete bus canopy supports had also been erected. On Friday, March 22, 2002, effective at 5:00am, the new Paulina Avenue right-of-way and bus terminal came into use and Hermitage Avenue was closed. All buses that enter Howard terminal via Hermitage were rerouted via Paulina and stop on the driveway north of the new bus terminal, outside the current side entrance to the Howard station.

The new bus terminal was largely complete by Fall 2002, although not all buses have not yet been relocated to stop in it. The new bus terminal is located adjacent to the parking garage south of the Howard station, on the corner of Rogers and Paulina avenues. This location is ideal for the master plan of the station reconstruction, which places a new entrance for the reconstructed Howard station adjacent to the bus terminal and garage. Unfortunately, this new Howard station entrance is not programmed to be built until 2006-09, making the location of the bus terminal less than ideal in the meantime due to the walk necessary from the current side entrance to the bus shed.

The bus shed's design and construction match the new parking garage to the east and the new commercial buildings along Howard Street and Paulina Avenue to the north. It consists of two bus lanes with an island sidewalk in between for passengers waiting for and loading and alighting from buses using the west bus lane. A green steel shed with glass slanted skylights covers both bus lanes as well as the waiting area for both. The bus stop signs for the new bus lanes, indicating the berthing locations, have already been installed, even through not all buses are currently stopping there. Tentatively, the buses are planned to berth as follows once the bus terminal comes into use for boarding and alighting: the #97 Skokie, #201 Central/Sherman, #203 Ridge/Grant, and #204 Dodge CTA® buses and #215 Crawford/Howard and #290 Touhy Pace buses are assigned to the Inner (east) Lane, while the #22 Clark, #147 Outer Drive Express, and #151 Sheridan CTA® buses are assigned to the Outer (west) Lane. Pace buses and some CTA® buses began stopped there in mid-2002.

A new commercial structure was constructed adjacent to the "L" embankment, between the retaining wall and the new Paulina Avenue. Its design and construction match the new parking garage to the south and the new commercial buildings along Howard Street to the west. Additionally, some of the concrete supports have also been erected for the eventual elevated walkway that will connect the shopping center to the west with the new rapid transit station to the east of the busway (visible in the photo at right, in the right side foreground). Given that the station would not be constructed for at least a year or two, the supports remained unused for some time. During summer 2003, however, the pedestrian overpass was constructed in connection to additional retail build-out being completed on the west side of Paulina. Over the weekend of July 19-20, 2003, the eastern and western bus lanes at the Howard terminal were closed to all vehicular traffic for the construction work.

On January 11, 2006, the Chicago Transit Board approved a $56.7 million construction contract to rehabilitate the Howard station. As a result of a competitive bidding process, CTA® selected Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Company to rehabilitate the station.

The construction contract includes the rehabilitation of the existing Howard Street viaduct and the retail space on the north side of Howard Street; the creation of the new entrance at the south end of the station; rehabilitation of the existing entrance on the south side of Howard Street, and renovation of the platform area. The work will upgrade communications, electrical and lighting systems. The station will also feature customer-friendly amenities such as new benches, signs, and bike racks and new windbreaks and canopies to protect customers during inclement weather. The station will be equipped with security cameras and linked to the CTA® security camera network when complete. In addition, artwork will be installed to enhance the look of the newly rehabbed facility.

The station renovation project began in Spring 2006. A first phase of the project, rehabilitating the trackbed and laying new rail through the station area, began the weekend of May 6-7, 2006.

The project is expected to be completed in 2009. The Regional Transportation Authority and proceeds from CTA® Bonds are providing the funding.

Howard's dual island platforms, looking north on June 30, 2001. The Red Line train on the right is unloading passengers, while the one on the left is loading them for the trip to 95/Dan Ryan. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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A view of the Howard complex, viewed looking north, circa 1960. The right platform serves northbound trains; the left southbound trains. (Photo from North Shore Line, from Sunday River Productions)

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A view of Howard's east platform, circa 1960. The east side of this platform (seen straight ahead) serves Evanston-bound trains, while the west side serves Skokie-bound trains and incoming trains from Chicago. The platform has changed little today, although the overhead trolley wire is now gone, as all cars run off the third rail. (Photo from North Shore Line, from Sunday River Productions)

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The dual island platforms of Howard station are seen here looking north on October 26, 2002. Despite all of the modifications to the platforms over the years, the original circa 1920 design is still evident. Note the Yellow Line "Board Here" sign on the right, indicating the forward berth of the outbound platform where Skokie Swift trains load. Also note the wayside signal suspended from the canopy. The trackage through Howard station is actually divided into multiple sections, allowing more than one train to pull into the station at once (given that neither is an 8-car train, of course). (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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A view of the bus terminal construction area, looking south from the Howard station bridge. The new Paulina Avenue runs along the left. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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The new Paulina Avenue, looking south. The street will be on the right and the bus terminal straight ahead. The garage with the park'n'ride is on the left. Note the new old-style street lights. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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Looking southeast along the new commercial structures. The new Howard station will eventually be built in the gap between the retail buildings and the parking garage. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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Two days after opening, the new bus bays at Howard terminals are being served by both Pace and CTA® buses in this view looking south on March 25, 2002. A canopy will later be built on the concrete columns on the medians. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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With the new bus bays brought into use, Hermitage Avenue has been vacated and the new Paulina Avenue brought into use (though not yet for public traffic) in this view looking southeast on March 25, 2002. The storefronts along the embankment (at left) are nearly complete. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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The storefronts build in 2001-02 along the busway, abutting the west side of the elevated embankment, are seen here looking north on July 26, 2003. Unfortunately, all the the farthest north (at the corner of Howard and Paulina) are still vacant at the time of this photo. Can you find the current western access to the Howard station in this view? It's not particularly obvious... (It's through a corridor under the third awning from the left, immediately to the right of the bus pulling out toward Howard Street.) (Photo by Graham Garfield)

Due to the large number of additional photos of trains at Howard, a separate rolling stock photo page has been established. To see photos of rolling stock at Howard station, click here.