Oak Park station (CTA Douglas branch)

Rapid transit station in Chicago, 1924-1952

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Find sources: "Oak Park station" CTA Douglas branch – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024)

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OAK PARK

6800W
2200S

Former Chicago 'L' rapid transit station

The location of the station, in between the small brick building behind the Burger King and the larger brick building behind it, in 2023

General information
Location| Berwyn, Illinois
Coordinates| 41°51′04″N 87°47′36″W﻿ / ﻿41.8512°N 87.7933°W﻿ / 41.8512; -87.7933
Owned by| Chicago Transit Authority (1947-1952)
Chicago Rapid Transit Company (1924-1947)
Line(s)| Douglas branch
Platforms| 1 island platform
Tracks| 2
Construction
Structure type| Elevated
History
Opened| March 16, 1924
Closed| February 3, 1952
Former services
| Preceding station  | Chicago "L" | Following station

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Terminus |  | Douglas branch |  | Ridgeland

toward Marshfield

Location

Oak Park was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L", where it was the westernmost extension of the Douglas Park branch in the suburb of Berwyn, from 1924 to 1952. Although the branch had originally been constructed starting from 1896 by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company, it did not reach Oak Park until March 16, 1924, by which time the Metropolitan had been subsumed by the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT). Plans to extend the branch as far west as Harlem Avenue were made by the Metropolitan but were never done as development never justified it.

The terminal building itself was a simple clapboard frame structure with a peaked roof on an island platform, with the tracks on either side ending abruptly.[1]

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) assumed operations of the "L" in 1947, and sought to streamline. In mid-1951, it proposed trimming the Douglas branch and instituting skip-stop on December 9 in concert with other reforms such as the discontinuation of the Westchester branch. Berwyn and adjacent Cicero sued the CTA and got an injunction to stop the branch reduction, but the matter was resolved in the CTA's favor and the branch was cut back to 54th/Cermak on February 3, 1952.[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Garfield, Graham. "Oak Park". Chicago-L.org. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

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Current and former Chicago "L" stations

Douglas branch|

* Oak Park
* Ridgeland
* Lombard
* Austin
* 58th Avenue
* Central
* 54th/Cermak
* Laramie
* 50th Avenue
* Cicero
* Kenton
* Kostner
* Pulaski
* Lawndale
* Central Park
* Drake
* Homan
* Kedzie
* Douglas Park
* California
* Western
* Damen
* Wood
* 18th
* 14th Place
* Roosevelt
* Polk
* Marshfield

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