Lake Street Transfer (1700W/200N)
Lake Street and Paulina Street, Near West Side

Service Notes:

Logan Square branch/Lake Street Line

Quick Facts:

Address: TBD
Established: May 6, 1895
Original Line: Metropolitan West Side Elevated/Chicago & Oak Park Elevated
Previous Names: Lake Street

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: 1913 (Added C&OP platforms and free connection)
Status: Demolished

History: A westbound C&OP train crosses under the Met Northwest branch. The entrance to the Met's Lake Street station is in the lower left; in 1913, platforms were added on the Lake Street "L" to create Lake Street Transfer. For a larger view, click here. (Photo from the Ed Frank Collection) When the "L", consolidated (somewhat) under the banner of the Chicago Elevated Railways, instituted crosstown service and universal transfers between lines (passengers previously has to pay a separate fare to ride different lines), the same ordinance required the Metropolitan Elevated and the Chicago & Oak Park Elevated (the Lake Street "L"'s name at that time) to built a transfer station where their lines crossed at Lake and Paulina. Since the Met already had a Lake Street station at that location, only the C&OP had to built platforms and connecting stairs. The Met station house was nearly identical all the other stations on the Logan Square Branch, like California, (still in use) and Logan Square (now gone). The station house featured dual doors set in a bay outcropping. The exterior consisted of extensive terra cotta work, including the word "entrance" above one door and "exit" above the other, dentils above the doors' story lights, carved wooden beads flush with the building between the wooden brackets which supported a round wooden eave. Since the work was not completed by November 3 (when the transfers took effect), "walking" transfers were issued for a few weeks. By mid-November the station was opened. Christened Lake Street Transfer, the C&OP closed their nearby Wood Street station. Lake Street Transfer was closed February 25, 1951 when the Logan Square branch of the former Metropolitan "L" (which used this station) was rerouted through the Dearborn-Milwaukee Street subway. Douglas branch trains were routed to the old Logan Square tracks and onto the Lake Street "L" in 1953 while the Congress line was being built, but use of the station was unfeasible, so Lake Street Transfer remained closed and Ashland (a few blocks east) was reactivated the day Lake Street Transfer closed.

Until Logan Square trains were rerouted into the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway in 1951, they crossed over the Lake Street "L" at Paulina on their way to the Met main line. In 1913, a transfer station was built (added onto the existing Met platforms, seen up top) to give passengers more convenient trip options. How stairways down to new Lake Street platforms were added to the existing Met Lake/Paulina station is evident in this early-1940s view looking west as a Lake Street Express train leaves the station on its way to the Loop. For a larger view, click here. (Photo from the Chicago Transit Authority Collection)

laketransfer04.jpg (93k) Looking north from the northbound platform on the upper level at Lake Street Transfer on July 25, 1955, a southbound work train approaches the shuttered station. This section of the Connector was the only connection between both the Milwaukee Elevated and Douglas branch and the rest of the system at the time. Also visible in the background is the bridge over the Milwaukee Road and C&NW, which is still used today as a signal bridge. (Photo by Barney Stone, courtesy of the Krambles-Peterson Archive. )