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History of the Loyola El Station

By John C. Thomas
Loyola and the El are inextricably linked. Loyola moved its campus to lakefront land in 1907, and the following year the El reached Rogers Park. Throughout the years, the El has been both friend and foe to the university. But without it, Loyola would not be the same. [Click on the photo to enlarge it]

A little over a year before the Great Chicago Fire, Loyola University began as St. Ignatius College in a six-story building built in 1866 on Chicago's Near Southwest Side. The original building still stands at 1076 W. Roosevelt, where it currently houses St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School.

In 1907, seeking to expand in a growing neighborhood, Loyola bought several acres on the lakefront for a new campus. The site was adjacent to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway right-of-way, and there was only talk at the time of expansion of the elevated railway that ended at Wilson.

But as Loyola was building Dumbach and Cudahy Halls in the first decade of the 20th Century, forces were moving that would change everything. In 1908, the first "Loyola" station was built on what eventually became the "El." It is legend, but not confirmed, that the constant rumbling of the trains made the astronomy dome on the top of Cudahy Science Hall practically useless.

In those days, Loyola Avenue was named Hayes Street, and so was the station that served Loyola. Another interesting feature was that the station was at ground level.

It wasn't until 1921 that the line that eventually extended to Wilmette was elevated. At that time, a new, state-of-the-art station was built for Loyola. The design was prepared by architect Charles P. Rawson, and featured a newspaper stand in addition to multiple exits. Some of the former station still exists on the Loyola side of Sheridan Road. Up until 1990, there was still an exit on the east side of Sheridan Road through part of the former station.

From the 1920's to the late 1970's, the Loyola El station was a focal point of all commerce between Uptown and Evanston. Situated at the end of Broadway and the convergence of Sheridan Road, the Loyola station was an anchor of North Side nightlife from the mid-1920's to the mid-1960's. The nearby Grenada Theater (where the Grenada Center currently stands) was an opulent movie palace seating more than 3,000 spectators, and the many roomy apartment buildings and proximity to the lake made Rogers Park an attractive neighborhood.

In 1946, Loyola bought the former Illinois Women's Athletic Club at 820 N. Michigan (across from the Water Tower) to start a new campus. Certainly, a major factor in the decision to purchase the property was the connection of the Elevated train at Loyola to the subway at Chicago and State Street which opened in 1943.

The Loyola station served valiantly for 59 years until the CTA decided to build a new handicapped-accessible station in 1980. In those days, before the Americans with Disabilities Act, it was rare for the CTA to make that kind of expenditure, especially with late-19th Century era stations everywhere else on the system. Loyola was one of the first of its kind, and chosen because of its strategic location and high traffic.

In 1982, the new and "improved" Loyola El station opened to the public. Designed by the firm of Dubin, Dubin, Black and Moutoussamy, the new station was a feather in the cap of a languishing neighborhood. The Grenada Theater, a campus fixture since the 1920's, was on its last legs in 1982, playing Kung Fu movies and barely paying the cleaning bill.

In 1989, the long-vacant theater was finally brought down, and Loyola built the Grenada Center in its place. While the retail end of the Grenada Center has not been a rousing success, the residential element has been very attractive for the university and the surrounding neighborhood. Meanwhile, the same people that ran the newsstand in the old Loyola L station continue to operate it today.

The Elevated rail connection between Rogers Park and downtown is still a lifeline between Rogers Park and downtown, but also a vital connection between the Lakeshore and Water Tower Campuses. Other Chicago-area universities have important connections to the Elevated trains, but Loyola is certainly the university with the strongest and most profound tie to the elevated trains.

Do you have any stories about life on Loyola's campus in the old days? Please post them on the RamblerMania messageboard.

For more information about the Chicago L, check out Chicago-L.org, a wonderful and extensive history of the Chicago elevated lines. Thanks to Chicago-l.org for the great Loyola El pictures.