Wood (1800W/200N)
Wood Street and Lake Street, Near West Side

Service Notes:

Lake Street Division

Quick Facts:

Address: TBD
Established: November 6, 1893
Original Line: Lake Street Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: n/a
Skip-Stop Type: n/a
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

Wood Street station was typical of those built in 1892-93 for the Lake Street Elevated Railroad -- similar to stations at Ashland, Homan and Sacramento, among many others -- designed by its engineering staff and built by the Lloyd and Pennington Company.

The station had twin station houses and side platforms for boarding inbound and outbound trains. The station houses are designed in a Queen Anne style with a Victorian Gothic influence. The station houses had gabled roofs with two windowless gabled dormers each. Each roof was topped with a unique square cupola with a diamond pattern and a steeply hipped roof with a small gabled dormer in each of the four sides. These structures represent a unique attempt to apply the Queen Anne architectural style.

The station had side platforms, covered by tin-covered peaked-roof canopies supported by a row of steel center posts. The posts had decorative elements cast into them, most notably in the top angle bracket that supported the canopy braces. The Lake Street Elevated stations also originally had elaborate railings on the platforms with decorative scroll metalwork.

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. Since the Met's Lake station was so close to the C&OP's Wood station, it was decided to close Wood Street in favor of establishing a C&OP stop at Paulina, although this created an irregular distance between stations on the C&OP.

Since the work on the new C&OP platforms at Lake/Paulina was not completed by November 3, 1913 (when the Met/C&OP transfers took effect), "walking" transfers were issued between the C&OP's Wood Street station and the Met's Lake Street station for a few weeks. By mid-November 1913, the C&OP platforms at Lake Street opened. With the new, combined station re-christened Lake Street Transfer, the C&OP closed Wood Street station.