Jackson Park Station - End of the Line

 

Worlds Fair in Background -1893

Jackson Park was a station on the Jackson Park Branch of the Chicago 'L'. The station opened on May 12, 1893, and closed on March 4, 1982,^[1] when 'L' service on the Jackson Park branch was suspended due to structural defects in the Dorchester bridge over the Illinois Central Railroad. The station was later demolished. The station was the terminal of the Jackson Park branch from October 31, 1893 until March 4, 1982.

When I was 10 a friend and I would take two buses to the 63rd and Englewood CTA station, then the train downtown. He would go to art class at the Art Institute and I would wander around downtown. Then we would go back to the south side on the El and bus.

One day for some reason I was returning by myself. I did not understand that the trains alternated between Englewood and Jackson Park. It was dark when I got off the train at Jackson Park and the neighborhood looked dicey.  I called my parents and asked them to pick me up. My mother told me how to get back on the train and how to get back to the right stop. But I prevailed on them to pick me up at Jackson Park. 

Craig Hullinger