Madison station (CTA)

MADISON   1700W 1S
Former Chicago 'L' rapid transit station
The Madison station house in its final days, housing a hot dog stand in the 1990s; the steel structure behind the station house was used to support the stairways' landings
General information
Location	1718 West Madison Street Chicago, Illinois, United States[1]
Coordinates	41°52′53″N 87°40′12″W / 41.881491°N 87.670108°W / 41.881491; -87.670108
Owned by	Chicago Transit Authority
Line(s)	Logan Square branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
History
Opened	May 6, 1895; 129 years ago (1895-05-06)
Closed	February 25, 1951; 73 years ago (1951-02-25)
Passengers
1948	217,551  21.12% (CTA)
Rank	165 out of 223
Former services
Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station Lake Street Transfer toward Logan Square Logan Square branch Marshfield Terminus
Location

Madison was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L"'s Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad, serving its Logan Square branch from 1895 to 1951. The station was typical of those constructed by the Metropolitan, with a Queen Anne station house and two wooden side platforms adjacent to the tracks. For much of its existence, Madison served the nearby sports arena Chicago Stadium.

The Metropolitan was one of four founding companies of the "L", and the first of its lines to be powered by electricity. The "L"'s companies merged operations under Chicago Elevated Railways (CER) in 1911 and formally merged into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) in 1924. Private ownership of the "L" ended in 1947 when the public Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) assumed operations.

Plans to replace the Logan Square branch where Madison was located with a subway to provide a more direct connection to downtown had dated to the late 1930s, and the CTA opened the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway on February 25, 1951, closing Madison and its adjacent stations in the process, although Madison's tracks and station house remained standing. The station house continued in use as a commercial building into the late 1990s, when it was demolished despite recognition of its historic significance. The tracks continued to be used for non-revenue service until they were reopened as part of the Pink Line in 2006.

Given the proximity of the site to Chicago Stadium and its successor the United Center, there have been several attempts at reviving the station, especially after the opening of the Pink Line. In 2017, however, the CTA decided instead to reopen a station on Damen for the Green Line for added service to the United Center.