Hannah (7400W/700S)
Hannah Avenue and Harrison Street, Village of Forest Park

Service Notes:

Garfield Line

Quick Facts:

Address: TDB

Established:	Late summer/fall 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 A map in an October 1902 Street Railway Journal article lists all the stations planned on this section of line, suggesting that the remaining stations, including one at Hannah Avenue one block west of Harlem Avenue, opened between August and October 1902.

As with many smaller, local AE&C stops, the Hannah Avenue station likely consisted of little more than a pair of ground-level side platforms consisting of a graded area covered in gravel and/or cinders, framed by wooden boards to delineate and contain its edges, with a walkway leading between the street and the boarding areas.

AE&C service to stations on this segment of their main line was short-lived, as 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.

The Met served the existing Hannah Avenue station, as they did with the other AE&C stations between 52nd and Desplaines, following their 1905 assumption of local service.

Later, the ground-level platforms were replaced by high-level wooden platforms for the "L", with both side platforms on the west side of Hannah Avenue. 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. Wooden steps led up to the front doors, while the rear opened out onto the inbound platform.

On September 14, 1952, Hannah station closed due to its low patronage and to speed up service on the Garfield Line. At that time, Harlem, the next station east, changed from being an "A" station to a "AB" station in the A/B skip stop pattern.

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. A replacement station entrance -- the Circle Avenue auxiliary entrance to Harlem, one block east of Hannah Avenue -- was opened on the Congress Line in 1960.

Notes:

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