Western is an 'L' station on the CTA'sBrown Line. It is an elevated station with two side platforms, located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. The adjacent stations are Rockwell, which is located about one-quarter mile (0.40 km) to the west, and Damen, about one-half mile (0.80 km) to the east. Between Western and Rockwell the line descends and runs on ground level tracks for the rest of the route to Kimball.
History
Belin Wall Monument inside the stationThe Western station house in 2023
The station was put into service in 1907 as part of Northwestern Elevated Railroad's Ravenswood line, and has been rebuilt twice since—in the late 1920s, and again from 1979 to 1981.[3] The current station consists of two side platforms, and a central storage line. Its platforms were extended in 2006–07 to enable the station to accommodate eight railcars as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project.[4]
Chicago's Berlin Wall Monument is located inside of the station. Chicago was offered a piece of the wall in 2008 by the German government. The city chose to place the monument in the historically German-American Lincoln Square neighborhood. It is dedicated to the citizens of Chicago for helping "secure the freedom" of Berlin.[5]
