The Clark-LaSalle mezzanine of the LaSalle/Congress subway station, looking south in July 2001. Unlike all other subway stations, the agent's booth isn't centered, but rather is turned toward the north entrance. This may have been because the bulk of people using the station were expected to come from the LaSalle Street Rock Island station to the north of the subway station. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

LaSalle (140W/500S)
LaSalle Street and Congress Parkway, Loop

Service Notes:

Blue Line: Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway

Transfer to Metra: Rock Island District

Owl Service

Quick Facts:

Address: 150 W. Congress Parkway
Established: February 25, 1951
Original Line: Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway
Previous Names: Congress Terminal (appeared on maps only)

Skip-Stop Type:

Station
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: In Use

History:

LaSalle/Congress is typical of stations on the Dearborn and State Street subways. The architecture of the station was streamlined Art Moderne with some Art Deco elements, simple and austere compared to earlier subways in New York, London, Paris or other systems but very much in the style and fashion of the period in which it was designed. At street-level, the four entrances located on Congress between Clark and LaSalle were very simple, consisting of stairs down from the sidewalk surrounded by simple tubular railings with a smooth identification pylon at the back with Deco rings around the top. The fare controls were at a lower mezzanine level beneath Congress Parkway. The station mezzanines had broadly curving walls clad in off-white glazed ceramic tile, which served to both reinforce the Moderne, streamlined architectural style employed in the Initial System of Subways station as well as to direct passenger flow through subtle design cues.

The interior had smooth concrete floors and ceilings, red for the former and a neutral color for the latter. The fare control booth had an angled Deco design and were made of stone walls with a small ventilation grate near the bottom and glass windows on all four sides, allowing for maximum visibility of the mezzanine for the station agents. It is interesting to note that rather than being centered and aligned along the centerline of the mezzanine, the booth in the LaSalle mezzanine is actually angled to the north, perhaps arranged to serve heavy traffic that was expected from LaSalle Street Station to the north. Turnstiles were steel, with some angled toward the entrances and a number of self-serve coin-operated models for efficient traffic circulation. The mezzanine also had several amenities for the use of passengers, such as public phones, lockers, restrooms, and concessions.

A dual set of escalators lead down from the mezzanine to the platform, augmented by a set of stairs which wrapped around behind the escalators and connected to the platform east of the escalators.

The island platform had red no-slip concrete floors, curved, barrel-vaulted concrete ceilings and a row of I-beam steel columns along each platform edge. Unlike some of the more ornate subways in other cities, the walls along side the tracks in the stations were left as unfinished concrete rather than tiled. To aid in station identification, each station had a color scheme that was used in the accents like tile borders, platform column color, and signage lettering and background. The colors blue, red, green, and brown were rotated in sequence beginning up at Division & Milwaukee. LaSalle's accent color was red. A specially-designed Futura typeface was used throughout the subway on metal, tile, and backlit glass signs. Fluorescent lights and illuminated station signs hanging from the ceilings finished the decoration.

Though much of the structural work of the Dearborn Subway was concurrent with that of State Street's (which was begun in 1938 and opened in 1943), construction on the Dearborn line was suspended in 1941 due to wartime materials shortages. Even after the war was over, it was another several years before work was resumed. Finally, the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway was completed and opened on February 25, 1951, eight years after the State Street tube was inaugurated. This is when LaSalle station opened.

Even then, it was only open at the north end. When the subway opened, LaSalle served temporarily as the south terminus of the line, with cars forced to turn around at a diamond crossover east of the station. This lasted for seven years until the completion of the Congress Line in 1958, after which cars were through-routed from the subway via a connection east of Halsted in the median of the Congress (now Eisenhower) Expressway.

Because this station was originally the terminal of the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway, the scale of some of the station's facilities are slightly enlarged (compared to other stations outside the Loop) to handle the large traffic loads that were expected. The station a has wide platform and the two escalators from the platform to the mezzanine, one for each direction, were unusual for the Initial System of Subway stations (even the Loop stations had only one escalator per side). The mezzanine is also somewhat enlarged, as are the restrooms (no longer open to the public). The station has changed little since its construction, even hanging on to its original 1950s illuminated hanging station signs (albeit with new sign faces).

The LaSalle subway station was intended to serve several nearby mainline rail terminals, including Grand Central Station (now demolished) and LaSalle Street station.

Beginning Saturday, June 10 and Sunday, June 11, 2001, six downtown area 'L' and subway stations and seven station entrances that were Part-Time Stations -- closed late at night or on weekends -- were returned to being open at all hours that trains are in service. Starting at 0600 hours on Saturday, June 10, are, LaSalle/Congress returned to being in service 24/7.

In November 2005, CTA® forces build a series of cinder block walls in the station mezzanine which had the effect of walling off the mezzanine's northwest quadrant, which had previously been open unused space. The new enclosed space is for use by CTA® personnel and equipment.

The LaSalle/Congress platform, looking west in July 2001. LaSalle was originally the subway terminal, which accounts for the slightly enlarged facilities. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

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A Logan Square train stops at the LaSalle station just two months after it opened, looking west from the LaSalle interlocking just east of the station in April, 1951. LaSalle was the end of the line until 1958 when the connecting Congress Line was completed, so trains turned through the diamond crossover to make the trip back to Logan Square. (Photo from the George Krambles Collection.)

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On July 13, 1957, a severe storm struck and Chicago, but the drainage system of neither the new Congress Expressway or the rapid transit line in its median were not yet operational. Connecting to this line just east of Halsted, a torrent of water rushed into the tunnels of the Dearborn Subway, settling at Jackson station. LaSalle was water-logged until days later when cleanup was completed. (Photo from the George Krambles Archive)

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A 2200-series Milwaukee-Douglas B train stops at LaSalle in 1974. (Photo by Leon Kay)

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Before the charter train comes to pick them up for the 5th Annual Historic "L" Station Tour, tour participants are given an introductory lecture on the platform at LaSalle/Congress covering the history of the subways and the design of LaSalle station on October 26, 2003. (Photo by Tony Coppoletta)

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The tour's charter train of 2200-series cars -- the oldest on the CTA® -- has arrived and tour participants are about to board for the 5th Annual Historic "L" Station Tour on October 26, 2003. The 1951-vintage subway station's inlaid tile station signage is reflecting the headlights of the 1969 Budd-built rail car on its glazed surface. (Photo by Tony Coppoletta)

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