Homan was a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Green Line. The station was located at Homan Avenue and Lake Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. Homan was situated east of Pulaski and west of Kedzie. Homan opened in March 1894 and closed on January 9, 1994, when the entire Green Line closed for a renovation project. The station did not reopen with the rest of the Green Line on May 12, 1996.[1]

Homan
 
3400W
300N
Former Chicago 'L' rapid transit station
The abandoned Homan station in 1996
General information
Location3400 West Lake Street
Chicago, Illinois 60624
Coordinates41°53′06″N 87°42′41″W / 41.884914°N 87.711327°W / 41.884914; -87.711327
Owned byChicago Transit Authority
Line(s)Lake Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2 tracks
Construction
Structure typeElevated
History
OpenedMarch 1894
ClosedJanuary 9, 1994
RebuiltStation house moved to Conservatory–Central Park Drive
Previous namesGarfield Park
Former services
Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station
Closed as part of the Green Line (from 1993)
Hamlin
Closed 1956
Lake Street Elevated Kedzie
Location
Map

Preservation and relocation

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In 1997, the CTA began working with the Illinois Historic Preservation Division on a plan to preserve the historic station house by moving it two blocks west to Central Park Drive near the Garfield Park Conservatory for a new stop called Conservatory–Central Park Drive. The new station would create equal spacing between the stations at Kedzie and Pulaski but would no longer have a direct bus connection to the #82 Kimball-Homan bus route. This created some controversy in the East Garfield Park community because residents said that they would have to walk through a high crime area to get to the bus from the new station. This was also around the time when the CTA had also eliminated the #16 Lake Street bus which ran underneath the Green Line tracks. The bus route was eliminated on October 5, 1997, due to budget cuts.[2] The neighborhood also felt that the community leaders and the Mayor favored tourists who would use the new station to visit the Garfield Park Conservatory over local residents who needed the station to be located near a bus route.[3] On September 15, 1999, the CTA finished planning and released a project schedule to move the historic station house and use it to create a new station. The old Homan station was completely demolished by the spring of 2000, and put into storage to be later reconstructed at Central Park. Relocation of the former station house began in March 2001 and the project was finished on June 30, 2001, when the new station opened at Conservatory.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Garfield, Graham. "Homan". Chicago-L.org. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  2. ^ Vandervoort, Bill. "Chicago Bus and Streetcar Routes". Chicago Transit & Railfan. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  3. ^ Washburn, Gary (June 3, 1998). "CTA to build West Side 'L' station". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  4. ^ Garfield, Graham. "Conservatory". Chicago-L.org. Retrieved September 27, 2011.