Howard is an 'L' station in Chicago, Illinois on the North Side Main Line. It is the northern terminus of the Red Line and the southeastern terminus of the Yellow Line; it also serves the Purple Line, for which it is the southern terminus at non-rush hour times on weekdays and all day on weekends. Trains on the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (North Shore Line) also stopped at Howard from 1926 until that line was abandoned in 1963.
Location
The former North Shore Line entrance on the north side of Howard Street has been preserved and restored to use, now as an auxiliary exitHoward station during reconstruction in August 2007. In the foreground are the wooden platforms and canopies dating from 1921; in the background new concrete platforms are under construction.Platform, June 2008
Howard station is located at 7519 North Paulina Street in Chicago, Illinois, at Paulina Street and Howard Street.[2] The station is in the Rogers Parkcommunity area of Chicago, just south of the border with the city of Evanston. It is one of four 'L' stations in Rogers Park, the others being Jarvis, Morse, and Loyola.
History
Red Destination signYellow destination signPurple destination sign
The Chicago and Evanston Railroad constructed a route from Union Station in Chicago into Evanston in 1885 that became the Chicago and Evanston branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (Milwaukee Road).[3] In 1908, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad extended service north from Wilson station and into Evanston using the right of way of the Milwaukee Road.[4] The Northwestern Elevated took over the operation of passenger services from the Milwaukee Road, rebuilt the stations along the line, and added new stations including one at Howard Avenue (now Howard Street).[5] The station was rebuilt in 1921 when the line through the station was elevated onto an embankment. An escalator was added in 1964.
Between 2006 and 2009, the station was rebuilt. A new station house was constructed on Paulina Street providing an accessible path between the station platforms and the multi-story parking garage and bus terminal to the west of the station.[6] The platforms and canopies were rebuilt, and the former main entrance on Howard Street entrance was renovated to be used as an auxiliary entrance to the new station. The station remained open throughout reconstruction, which was completed on March 20, 2009.[6]
Station layout
A Park and Ride with 634 spaces, and sheltered bicycles provided at this station.[2] A large maintenance yard and rolling stock storage facility, known as Howard Yard, is just north of the station. Northbound Purple and Yellow Line trains pass through the yard on the way to their terminal, and Red Line trains travel from the northbound platform to the southbound platform via a balloon loop in the yard. Southbound Yellow Line and non-rush hour Purple Line trains terminate at this station using track 3, located between the Red Line tracks, south of the station.
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