Day 156: The Station in the Country

     In 1912, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad announced plans to extend its service all the way north to Wilmette. In order for thus to happen, the railroad erected a few intermediate stations, including one at Isabella Avenue in Evanston. From the outset, the station was more secluded than other stops on the line, being in a relatively undeveloped area, never changing much from the way it looked in this picture:

     Eventually houses started to spring up in the area, but the region never really got extremely busy. When the station was first built, there wasn't even a head house, as fares would simply be collected on board the train. Eventually, there were fare collection facilities set up on the southbound side of the platform, but riders who boarded going north still had to pay their fares on the train. However, this was only a small portion of the ridership, so it wasn't very inconvenient. Speaking of small ridership, that was another hallmark of the Isabella station. The station always had low ridership levels, and only reached a peak of roughly 110,000 riders per year. This in turn led to constant debates over whether to keep the station open or to give up and close it. In 1971, the CTA was all set to close the station, but intervention by the members of the community staved off the inevitable until 1975, when the station was finally shuttered.