Oak Park (800W/900S)
Oak Park Avenue and Harrison Street, Village of Oak Park

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 Oak Park Avenue station consisted of little more than a pair of ground-level side platforms, possibly 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. 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 Oak Park Avenue, while the inbound platform is on the east side of the street.

The Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad, which ran parallel along the south side of the AE&C tracks here, also had a station at this location. Consisting of a wooden depot and single platform along the north side of their tracks, the CTT's Kirwin station was on the west side of Oak Park Avenue.

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 AE&C continued stopping at Oak Park Avenue, however, in addition to the new "L" service.

By the 1930s, the ground-level platforms had been replaced by high-level wooden platforms for the "L". These platforms continued to be on different sides of Oak Park Avenue -- east side for inbound trains, west side of outbound trains. There were actually three different platforms: along with the two high-level "L" platforms, the interurban (now the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin) discharged passengers inbound at a low-level cinder platform on the west side of Oak Park Avenue, to separate interurban passengers from "L" passengers. Both companies used the same platform westbound where there was less worry about CA&E riders transferring for free to the "L".

In addition, by this time the Oak Park station had a station house on the inbound "L" platform on the east side of Oak Park Avenue. 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 featured one set of double doors, while the sides are broken up by 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 Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban continued to use the Garfield Park branch to reach downtown Chicago and serve Oak Park station until September 20, 1953, discharging passengers eastbound and picking up westbound.

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 September 6, 1957, westbound Garfield Line trains shifted to a set of temporary tracks from Austin to west of Oak Park, north than the previous alignment. Concurrent with the move to the temporary alignment west of Austin, a temporary island platform was opened on east side of Oak Park Avenue for westbound trains and the old westbound side platform on the west side of Oak Park Avenue was closed. Eastbound trains followed onto the temporary alignment and began using the temporary island platform on September 17, closing the old eastbound side platform and station house on the east side of Oak Park Avenue.

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. The new permanent Oak Park station's island platform, with temporary fare controls, was placed in service on the west side of Oak Park Avenue. The next day, on March 20, the permanent westbound track was also placed in service, closing the previous temporary platform.

Notes:

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