Day 122: The End of the Line

     Okay, so this week's CTA entry is going to be a little different.  Whereas normally we talk about stations that are fully up and running, today I will be telling you about a stop that has not boarded a single passenger in almost 62 years.  Regardless, it is a compelling story, so here we go.

     In 1926, the Metropolitian Rail Division(one of the many transit outfits that existed in Chicago before the time of the CTA) extended service west of the Des Plaines terminal(which still stands today as Forest Park, the western terminus of the Blue Line) all the way out to 22nd Street and Mannheim Road, which is about 6 miles west of where the Blue Line terminates nowadays.  The station itself was only ever intended to be a small stub, as only one track was ever laid.  There was a small station house that served waiting passengers, as well as a small platform for commuters to wait on.  However, time wore on, and the station got to be more and more deserted, to the point that the station house was eventually taken out.  By 1951, the station had become so deserted that it was almost other-worldly, as can be seen here:

    
     Yes, that is actually a CTA Station, hard as it may be to believe.  The station house has been taken out, and the station is all but a deserted ruin.  On December 8, 1951, the CTA made things official and pulled all service to Mannheim/22nd, and all stops west of Des Plaines.  The true irony is that mere months after the service suspension, a massive post-war building boom came to Westchester.  But alas, the boom was too late, and for the past 60 years, Westchester has only been served by buses.