The 'L' train has survived calls to be disbanded and a tumultuous century and a quarter to become a, sometimes unreliable, city icon.
The 1890s were a time of growth for Chicago and, when the city opened its above ground rail line, it was popular immediately. "The wooden train, run by the private Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad Co. along what is now the Green Line," Mary Wisniewski writes for the Chicago Tribune. "The 'L' also promoted democracy, since it forced people from different income levels, races and ethnic groups to sit together," Greg Brozo, author of The Chicago 'L' told Wisniewski, a claim transit boosters still make today.
Chicago was seeing skyscrapers built along the transit route so it's only fitting that Chicago's train should be elevated, too, Brozo commented.
Read the full story: Chicago's elevated train system started 125 years ago
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One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
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