Logan Square branch

The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company was granted a 50-year franchise by the Chicago City Council on April 7, 1892, and began securing right of way shortly thereafter. As designed, the Metropolitan's operations would comprise a main line that went west from downtown to Marshfield, where three branchesone going northwest, one going due west to Garfield Park, and one going southwest to Douglas Parkwould diverge and serve various parts of Chicago's west side. The formally titled "Northwest branch" would continue to Robey station, where it would split into the "Logan Square branch" going further northwest and the Humboldt Park branch going due west. However, as early as 1898, the Metropolitan itself was referring to the Northwest branch as part of the "Logan Square branch". The Northwest branch's tracks were finished by October 1894 and powered on in April 1895 for test runs; service on the branch and the main line commenced on May 6 between Robey and Canal. Service was provided to Logan Square on May 25, and the Humboldt Park branch opened on July 29. The Metropolitan's lines were originally operated by the West Side Construction Company, which had been responsible for constructing them, and would be transferred to the Metropolitan on October 6, 1896. The backers and officers of the two companies were largely identical, however, so this transfer of ownership was nominal. The expenses incurred in constructing the Metropolitan's vast trackage would come back to haunt the company, which entered receivership in 1897; the similarly-named Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway Company was organized in January 1899 and assumed operations on February 3 of that year. The new Metropolitan, along with the other companies operating "L" lines in Chicago, became a part of the Chicago Elevated Railways (CER) trust on July 1, 1911. CER acted as a de facto holding company for the "L"unifying its operations, instituting the same management across the companies, and instituting free transfers between the lines starting in 1913but kept the underlying companies intact. This continued until the companies were formally merged into the single Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924, which assumed operations on January 9; the former Metropolitan was designated the Metropolitan Division of the CRT for administrative purposes. Although municipal ownership of transit had been a hotly-contested issue for half a century, the publicly-owned Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) would not be created until 1945, or assume operation of the "L" until October 1, 1947. Opening of the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway Plans for Chicago to have a subway system to relieve the severe congestion of, if not replace, its elevated trackage dated back to the early 20th century, but the city lagged in building subways. Chicago petitioned the Public Works Administration (PWA) for construction funds for a subway on State Street in 1937. The petition originally included a proposal for two downtown east-west streetcar tunnels. Harold L. Ickes, the administrator of the PWA and a longtime Chicagoan, vetoed the streetcar tunnel plan and insisted instead on a second subway that would go under Dearborn Street and Milwaukee Avenue, which would provide a more direct route from Logan Square to downtown. and as late as 1949 commuters were promised such a setup that would have preserved the old Logan Square trackage. However, the CTA had no interest in operating either the old Logan Square elevated or the Humboldt Park branch; the new Damen Tower would never be installed with switching equipment, and the Logan Square branch south of Damen would be closed after the Dearborn subway opened. After the war ended, work resumed on the Dearborn Street subway and it opened at the midnight beginning Sunday, February 25, 1951; at the same time, the Humboldt Park branch was restricted to a shuttle service to and from Damen on the Logan Square branch. the new subway had over 60 percent higher ridership than the old Logan Square branch by the end of the year. After 1951 After the replacement of the southern half of the branch in 1951, the two sections of transit had different histories. Closure of Humboldt Park branch, O'Hare branch The Humboldt Park branch had been targeted for closure as early as early 1950, Besides the Paulina Connector and the section of the Blue Line between Damen and Logan Square, one other extant section remains at Paulina and Kinzie Streets, where a truss bridge that carried trains over the Metra rail lines (former Chicago & Northwestern and Milwaukee Road lines) has been re-used as a signal bridge. ==Operations==

Infrastructure and rolling stock Prior to the 1894 decision to electrify its tracks, the Metropolitan had placed an order from the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia for steam locomotives. After the decision, however, the order was modified to instead provide for electric "motor cars" and unpowered "trailers". Electric traction in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries was such that one motor car generally pulled multiple trailers. Humboldt Park trains were unusual in that their motor cars instead pushed their trailers onto Logan Square trains to be coupled for the trip downtown, except during rush hours when Humboldt Park trains went directly downtown or night hours when the trains were only one car each. The Metropolitan adopted multiple-unit control during 1904–1905, eliminating the need for Humboldt Park trains to push trailers onto Logan Square trains, although combining Logan Square and Humboldt Park trains at Damen continued in some form or another until 1950. In common with the other companies building what would become the Chicago "L", the Metropolitan provided wooden cars for its lines. The first trailers were built by the Pullman Car Company, whereas the first motor cars were built by Barney and Smith. Subsequent orders for trailers were built by Pullman, Harlan and Hollingsworth, and American Car and Foundry Company (ACF), and further motor car orders were fulfilled by Barney and Smith, Jewett, ACF, and Pullman. Wooden cars remained dominant in the "L" fleet throughout the first half of the 20th century. After the CER assumed operations, it placed two orders for steel-bodied cars from the Cincinnati Car Company in 1914 and 1924, known collectively as the "4000-series"; however, as late as 1949, only wooden cars were assigned to the Logan Square branch. When the first 6000-series were delivered in August 1950, they were placed on the Logan Square and Humboldt Park branches for trials in anticipation of the subway's opening. Given that only metal cars were allowed in the subways, most 6000-series were put into service on the branches. Schedules and fares As originally opened, the Metropolitan's trains ran every six minutes between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and every ten minutes during the night. The average speed was , and trains took 22 minutes to go from Robey to Canal. The fare across the "L" was legally mandated to be a nickel (5 cents, $ in 2021) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The nickel fare continued until temporarily increased by a cent to 6 cents in 1917 ($ in 2021) before stabilizing to a dime in 1920 (10 cents, $ in 2021). Starting in 1922, fares were usually marketed in packs of three rides for 25 cents, or cents per ride ($ per ride in 2021), but individual fares remained 10 cents each. At the same time, a weekly pass was introduced, the first in a major American city, for $1.25 ($ in 2021) for rides outside of Evanston and Wilmette. Unlike other elevated railroads at the time, the Metropolitan did not sell tickets for passengers to present to staff; instead customers gave their nickel to the station agent to record in a registry, a practice similar to streetcars at the time. This practice was ultimately adopted by the other elevateds. As late as 1960, after the original Logan Square branch was supplanted, there was no fare control at Damen besides the station agent. Originally, station agents were on duty 24 hours a day; conductors were introduced on the Logan Square, Humboldt Park, and Northwest branches to instead collect fares on trains during night and off-peak hours in 1931 and remained in use through 1937, although the Northwest branch regained 24-hour station agents in 1935. Ridership From 1900 through 1903, Robey was the highest-ridership station both on the Northwest branch and the entire Logan Square branch; in that same time, Western was the busiest station on the Logan Square branch proper in 1900 before being surpassed by the Logan Square terminal from 1901. Starting in 1904 the Logan Square terminal would surpass Robey to be the busiest station on the combined branch every year, but Robey would continue to lead the Northwest branch every year through 1945 and again in 1948, being beaten by Chicago for 1946 and 1947. The Northwest branch's ridership peaked , compared to a 1926 peak of the Logan Square branch proper . Prior to 1937, ridership figures for the Lake Street Transfer were counted separately between the Metropolitan and Lake Street Divisions, while afterwards they were all recorded under the Metropolitan. Including only the Metropolitan's riders prior to that year, the station at Lake Street would be the lowest-ridership station on the Northwest and combined branches every year through 1936; however, combining its figures with that of the Lake Street's portion of the Transfer after 1913, the least-patronized station on the Northwest and combined branches becomes Madison in 1913 and Grand every year thereafter, including after 1937. The lowest-ridership station on the Logan Square branch proper was the Logan Square terminal in 1900 and Western in all subsequent years. ==Stations==