Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sky Train: Chicago's El
Fun Fact
It's a rare Hollywood film or TV series set in the Windy City that doesn't
frame its stars against that most archetypal of Chicago images: the city's
elevated train system, more commonly known as the
“El.”
But the ori-
gin of the El has nothing to do with its celebrated gritty, rumbling, rail-
screeching urban aesthetic.
Chicago made a miraculous recovery after the Great Fire of 1871—
within 20 years, a sea of neighborhoods appeared on former prairies
and swamps, and the downtown district overflowed with people,
streetcars, wagons, horses, and horse droppings. The boom created
two problems: It was hard to get downtown quickly in the pre-auto-
mobile era, and once you got downtown, it was impossible to actually
move around.
So Chicago took to the sky, building a system of elevated trains 15
feet above all the madness. The South Side line (part of today's Green
Line) was the first, opening in 1892 and running to 39th Street, about
5 miles south from downtown; the following year, the line was extended
to Jackson Park, bringing commuters to the World's Fair. In 1893, the
Lake Street line (also part of today's Green Line) began running to the
West Side, and the Metropolitan West Side Elevated (part of today's Blue
Line, serving the Northwest and West sides) opened in 1895.
The first El trains on the South Side and Lake Street lines were
steam-powered, but the Metropolitan West Side Line debuted with a
new-fangled electric style of train. The cleaner, quieter trains were a
hit, and the other El lines followed the West Side's lead. In 1896, the
Lake Street Line started using electricity, and the South Side Line got
wired in 1898. These lines were run by competing companies, and each
line had its own terminal on the outskirts of downtown, so commuters
still had to negotiate the traffic and the filth of downtown streets
once they got off the train.
In 1895, the three El companies collaborated to build a set of tracks
into and around the central business district that all the lines would
then share. By 1897, the “Loop” was up and running, but it would take
almost 100 years before the “El” would connect the whole city.
Chicago's El wasn't the nation's first. That honor belongs to New
York City, which started running its elevated trains in 1867, 25 years
before Chicago. But the New York El has almost disappeared, moving
underground and turning into a subway early last century. With 289
miles of track, Chicago has the biggest El in the country, and the sec-
ond-largest public transportation system.
BY COMMUTER TRAIN
If you plan to visit suburban destinations, your best public transportation bet is
the
Metra
commuter railroad (
&
312/322-6777
or TTY 312/322-6774
Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; at other times, call Regional Transportation Authority
[RTA] at
&
312/836-7000 or TTY 312/836-4949; www.metrarail.com). The
Metra serves the six-county suburban area around Chicago with 12 train lines.
