Austin (1W/800S)
Austin Avenue and Garfield Street, Village of Oak Park/Austin (City of Chicago)

Service Notes:

Garfield Line

Quick Facts:

Address: TDB

Established:	August 25, 1902 (AE&C interurban service inaugurated)
	March 11, 1905 ("L" service inaugurated)

Original Line:	Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway (interurban service)
	Metropolitan West Side Elevated, Garfield Park branch ("L" service)

Previous Names: none

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

History:

The Aurora Elgin & Chicago (AE&C) interurban began service from Aurora and Wheaton to a connection with the "L" at 52nd Avenue (Laramie) on August 25, 1902. On opening day, not every station was ready; in the Maywood and Oak Park areas, the stations in service on the first day were Maywood (5th Avenue), Harlem (referring to the Village of Harlem, not the Avenue, so this was Desplaines Avenue), Oak Park (Avenue), Austin Avenue, and 52nd Avenue. However, early photos and records indicate that other stations were soon added.¹

As with many smaller, local AE&C stops, the Austin Avenue station appears to have consisted of little more than a pair of ground-level side platforms with a walkway leading between the street and the boarding areas. As was the case at many local stops in this area, the platforms were split on different sides of the street--a 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the outbound platform on the west side of Austin Avenue, while the inbound platform is on the east side of the street. Interestingly, this placed the former platform in the Village of Oak Park and the latter in the City of Chicago.

The Metropolitan "L" assumed local service between 52nd Avenue and Desplaines Avenue on March 11, 1905, relieving the AE&C of this unwanted chore. The extension of Garfield Park service to Desplaines and the Met's servicing of the local stations between was part of the reciprocal trackage agreement that allowed the AE&C to extend to downtown Chicago and the Fifth Avenue Terminal over the Metropolitan Elevated.

Later, the ground-level platforms had been replaced by high-level wooden platforms for the "L", with both side platforms on the east side of Austin Avenue (which was on the Chicago side of the street). A station house was located at the entry to the inbound platform from the street. The design was typical of other small wood frame ground-level Met station houses. The headhouse was positioned between the street and the boarding platform, requiring passage through the station house before reaching the platform. The exterior used clapboard siding and a peaked roof with eaves that extended out about a foot. The front features one set of double doors, while the sides are broken up by four double-hung sash windows. The rear opened out onto the inbound platform. The interior was most likely floor-to-ceiling tongue-in-groove paneling, wood floors and paneled ceilings with a small ticket booth near the entrance, benches along the walls, a boiler stove for heat and incandescent lights for illumination. The outbound platform had a small wooden waiting shelter.

On December 9, 1951, concurrent with the CTA discontinuing all Garfield service west of Desplaines, service west of Laramie was also discontinued on Sundays and holidays, replaced with a bus service to and from the Central station on the Lake Street "L" line. To make up for the loss of service, from the same date until the interurban's discontinuance of service east of Desplaines on September 20, 1953, the CA&E stopped in both directions at Austin on Sundays and holidays.

During the 1950s, the City of Chicago and Cook County undertook construction of the Congress Superhighway [Eisenhower Expressway] along the general alignment of the Garfield Park "L" line. Part of the project also included the new new Congress "L" Line to replace the Garfield Park. The Congress Expressway opened in stages between 1955 and 1960; on June 22, 1958, the first section of the new Congress Line opened between Halsted and Laramie, replacing the Garfield Park elevated.

Work on the Congress Expressway and "L" line west of Laramie Avenue resulted in some complicated staging and several temporary facilities along the at-grade portion of the Garfield Line. On August 29, 1954, Garfield trains were rerouted trains via temporary tracks north of original alignment between Central and Lombard to allow for highway construction. At the same time, the old side platform station was abandoned and a new island platform station was opened on the west side of Austin Avenue, with an auxiliary exit to Lombard Avenue. An auxiliary entrance at Lombard opened a month later on September 27.

Over three years later the Garfield Line shifted to a second set of temporary tracks from Austin to west of Oak Park, even further north than the first temporary alignment. On September 6, 1957, concurrent with the move to the second temporary alignment west of Austin, the Lombard auxiliary entrance was closed.

Just under three years later, the permanent right-of-way was ready, although the permanent replacement Congress Line station was not. On March 19, 1960, the permanent eastbound Congress Line track was placed in service between Waller and Desplaines in open cut alongside site of future expressway. A temporary island platform was placed in service on the east side of Austin Avenue. The next day, on March 20, the permanent westbound track was also placed in service, closing the previous temporary platform. Meanwhile, between the permanent tracks, the new, permanent island platform was constructed west of Austin. The new Austin station platform was placed in service on December 27, 1960, including an auxiliary entrance/exit at Lombard.

Notes:

1. Plachno, Larry. Sunset Lines: The Story of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad - 2: History. Transportation Trails, 1990.