The History of Chicago’s Famous Train System-The CTA

CTA Train

Chicago’s famous “L” train system has been used by passengers for over a hundred years. It began during one of the most important moments in the city’s history. In the late 1800s, several private railroad companies competed to build elevated train lines across the rapidly growing city.

Chicago’s first elevated railway officially opened in 1892 as the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad. A steam locomotive carried wooden coaches on a 3.6 mile rail line from Congress Pkwy to Pershing Rd - that was built adjacent to the alleys of Chicago and dubbed the "Alley L". You can view one of the coaches at the Chicago History Museum.

Its timing was critical. Just one year later, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition — also known as the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. The event attracted more than 27 million visitors from around the world and transformed Chicago into an international destination.

When visitors got to the World's Columbian Exposition they also got to experience the first elevated electric railway in the United States called the Intramural Railway which served as a crucial prototype for modern electric transit.

Shortly after the Expo, The Metropolitan West Side Elevated was the third ‘L’ company to open, but the first to use electric technology. Its main line began operating in 1895, starting at Franklin Street and branching in three separate directions toward Garfield Park, Douglas Park, and Logan Square. Portions of these tracks are today's Blue and Pink Lines.

Before 1897, all these lines terminated just short of the downtown area until Charles Tyson Yerkes, a mass transit mogul, got permission from landowners downtown to construct the Union Loop, which commuters today know as the downtown Loop.

As more and more lines were added so was the first subway station under State Street in 1943. It was a 3,300 foot platform which later was split into two stops Washington and Lake.

In 1947, with automobiles becoming more popular and people moving to the suburbs, ridership on the trains, streetcars and buses declined. The city and state governments combined the three to form The Chicago Transit Authority - CTA. The last streetcar to run in the city was in 1958 which was also the same year that the first train line, the Congress Line (today the north branch of the blue line) would start operating down the middle of the Congress Expressway.

Another interesting part of the trains system is the color-coded train names.

These names were introduced by the Chicago Transit Authority in the early 1990s to make the system easier for riders and tourists to understand. Before that, many train routes were known by complicated names based on neighborhoods, branches, or destinations. For example:

• The Red Line was once called the Howard–Dan Ryan route

• The Green Line included parts of the Lake Street and Englewood/Jackson Park branches

• The Brown Line was known as the Ravenswood route

  
  

As the CTA modernized maps and signage, they adopted simple color names similar to systems in cities like New York and Washington, D.C.

The color system made navigation much easier:

• Red Line

• Blue Line

• Brown Line

• Green Line

• Orange Line

• Purple Line

• Pink Line

• Yellow Line

  
  

Each color was chosen mainly for clarity on maps and signs, though some have loose historical connections:

• The Orange Line opened in 1993 and used orange branding connected to Midway Airport and aviation themes

• The Brown Line kept brown because it was distinct and easy to read on maps

• The Pink Line became the newest color when it launched in 2006

If you are looking for a reason to hop on one of these trains look no further than the incredible skyline views. Some favorite stretches include:

• Brown Line between Chicago and Armitage

• Green Line entering downtown

• Orange Line approaching the Loop

• Pink Line views of the city skyline

  
  

For photographers and visitors, riding the “L” can feel like a moving city tour.

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Intramural Railway

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