The station was originally constructed in 1925 as part of a new high-speed bypass route for the
North Shore Line known as the Skokie Valley Route. Trains of the
Chicago Rapid Transit Company's Niles Center Route also used this station as a terminal until that service was ended by the CTA in 1948. The North Shore Line ceased operating in early 1963, but the CTA instated a new service the following year which served a "temporary" station on the same location. This service was, and to some extent still is, known as the Skokie Swift, and is currently called the Yellow Line. The current stationhouse has been in place since 1994. The original
Ludowici-tiled stationhouse, known as
Dempster Street Station, is listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places and stands east of its original location, moved at a cost of $1 million in order to make space for the new station and its parking lot. The original station house is currently occupied by a
Starbucks coffee shop and a law office; the Starbucks also has a
drive-thru lane. The former station's address is 5001 Dempster Street. ==Service==