The East 63rd branch, formerly known as the Jackson Park branch, is a long branch of the Chicago "L" operated as part the Green Line by the

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...

, serving the Woodlawn neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

History

The first station on the East 63rd branch, 61st Street, opened January 22, 1893. Service was extended to Madison Avenue (later renamed Dorchester) on April 23, 1893, and to Jackson Park on May 12, 1893, to serve the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

, which was held in Jackson Park. On October 31, 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition ended and the Jackson Park station was closed. Stony Island was then made the terminus and was renamed Jackson Park. On March 4, 1982, structural defects in the Jackson Park branch's bridge over the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

forced its closure south of the 61st street stop. When the branch reopened on December 12, 1982, service was only restored as far as the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

stop. On January 9, 1994, the Green Line closed for renovation. When the line reopened on May 12, 1996, the Cottage Grove stop was the new terminal, and the Jackson Park branch was renamed the East 63rd branch. On September 27, 1997, the portion of the branch east of Cottage Grove was demolished with less than 24 hours public notice.Green Line:East 63rd (Jackson Park) branch
Chicago "L".org. Accessed August 16, 2013

Station listing

References

{{Chicago L Chicago Transit Authority Railway lines in Chicago Railway lines opened in 1893