Oakton–Skokie is an 'L' station on the CTA's Yellow Line, which serves downtown Skokie. Previously, a station existed at this location which was in operation as part of the North Shore Line's Niles Center Route from 1925 until 1948, and later demolished in 1964. The current station opened on April 30, 2012.

History

In the 1920s, both the

Chicago Rapid Transit Company The Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) was a privately owned firm providing rapid transit rail service in Chicago, Illinois and several adjacent communities between 1924 and 1947. The CRT is one of the predecessors of the Chicago Transit Autho ...

and the North Shore Line (an

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railroad linking Chicago and Milwaukee) existed under the private ownership of

Samuel Insull Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a British-born American business magnate. He was an innovator and investor based in Chicago who greatly contributed to create an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States ...

. The North Shore Line's original route to Milwaukee ran through numerous North Shore communities that had become densely settled. In order to provide faster service between Chicago and Milwaukee, the North Shore Line decided to build a high-speed bypass several miles west of its original line. The new route would traverse the Skokie Valley and converge with the 'L' at . In an attempt to encourage development in the village of Niles Center on the southern portion of the line, the Chicago Rapid Transit Company would operate rapid transit service as far as

Dempster Street Dempster Street is a major east-west street in the northern suburbs of Chicago. It is assigned 8800 North in the Chicago address system, being located north of Madison Street. The road begins at Illinois Route 62 (Algonquin Road) in Mount Pr ...

. The new "Niles Center Route" included several intermediate stations served only by the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, including one at Oakton Street, just a few blocks from the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Oakton Street where the business district of Niles Center was forming. Arthur U. Gerber, staff architect for Samuel Insull, designed the station in the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

style, similar to the Dempster station at the end of the line. The station at Oakton was smaller and set between the tracks, with a single high-level island platform projecting from the rear of the station house. The line entered operation on March 28, 1925, but did not encourage much development before the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

put a halt to building activity for nearly 20 years. The Niles Center service remained unprofitable in 1947 when the privately owned Chicago Rapid Transit Company was subsumed into the public Chicago Transit Authority, and on March 27, 1948, rapid transit service was terminated and replaced by the 97 Skokie bus route. All rapid transit stations along the line were closed, except for Dempster where North Shore Line service continued until the company went out of business in 1963. On Monday, April 20, 1964, the Chicago Transit Authority reinstated service on the Niles Center Branch as a nonstop shuttle between Howard and Dempster, dubbed the Skokie Swift. No station was located at Oakton, even though it is only one block from Skokie's central business district.

Reconstruction

Since the Swift began operating in 1964, there had been interest on the part of the Village of Skokie and its citizens to reestablish at least one of the local stations. The most likely candidate to return was Oakton because of its location near Skokie's downtown and its potential to generate the most traffic. A study commissioned by the Village of Skokie and completed in Fall 2003 recommended establishing a stop at Oakton. Village officials discussed and planned for a downtown Skokie Swift station for more than five years. More recently, a developer purchased the

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

Pharmaceuticals property adjacent to the station site to build a life sciences research park, now Illinois Science + Technology Park. The employees at the research park would drive ridership at the station. The CTA has supported plans for the Oakton station, as indicated in a 2003 letter from then CTA President Frank Kruesi: "By... providing

infill station An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train serv ...

s (along the Yellow Line), the CTA will make better use of existing service capacity and provide expanded reverse commute opportunities."

Style and design

In early 2005, the village received $417,000 in a federal grant earmarked for the station's design, which covers about 80 percent of design costs for the station. The village would pick up the remainder, about $104,000, according to Village Director of Engineering Fred Schattner. Then, in mid-2005, village staff submitted a grant proposal to the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant program, which provides funds for projects that contribute to traffic congestion relief and cleaner air quality. In late November 2005, the Skokie secured a $1 million federal grant for the village's downtown Skokie Swift project with the help of U.S. Rep.

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

, D-9th. Then, in early December 2005, Skokie learned they would receive an additional $9.2 million in federal grant funds to construct the station. The entire project is estimated to cost about $15 million including any land acquisition needed, which means the village had by this time secured more than two-thirds of the funding. Skokie Mayor Van Dusen has said he is exploring options to help pay for some or all of the remaining cost.

Location

The station is located on the site of the original station, just west of

Skokie Boulevard U.S. Route 41 (US 41) in the U.S. state of Illinois runs north from the Indiana border beneath the Chicago Skyway on Indianapolis Boulevard to the Wisconsin border north of the northern terminus of the Tri-State Tollway with Interstate 94. It ...

, north of Oakton Street and adjacent to the new Illinois Science + Technology Park. The village sought proposals from firms for design work for the new station, eventually awarding the contract to McDonough Associates. Construction of the new downtown station was expected to begin in 2007 and officials estimated the station would be completed in 2007 or 2008. Issues of financing delayed the project as various funding sources were secured, and later issues of land acquisition delayed the project further. Finally in 2007 after extensive deliberation, the Village of Skokie initiated eminent domain proceedings against two landowners (an auto repair shop and a truck rental business) to make room adjacent to the station for a "kiss and ride" area, a bus turnaround and a taxi drop-off area. A groundbreaking ceremony took place at the adjacent Illinois Science + Technology Park on June 21, 2010. On June 8, 2011, the Chicago Transit Board revealed that the name of the station would be ''Oakton–Skokie''. Naming of the station was done concurrently with the renaming of the Yellow Line station and terminus.

Facilities

The station consists of an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

at grade level located between the Yellow Line's two tracks; the eastern track serves trains to Dempster–Skokie, while the western track serves trains to Howard. Oakton–Skokie has two entrances: one located off of Oakton Street and the other off Skokie Boulevard near Searle Parkway.

Bus connections

CTA * 54A North Cicero/Skokie Blvd (Weekday Rush Hours only) * 97 Skokie

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

* 210 Lincoln Avenue

History

Reconstruction

Style and design

Location

Facilities

Bus connections

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links