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| Chicagoans Wait to Buy Tickets for the New Subway on October 16, 1943 (CEFA Archives) |
October 16, 1943 – At 10:48 a. m. a ribbon is cut
at State and Madison and Chicago’s first subway, first proposed in the Chicago
Plan of 1909, opens for business. The
ceremony begins with a parade that takes an hour to pass the reviewing stand on
State Street. As Mayor Kelly gets ready
to cut the ribbon, Subway Commissioner Philip Harrington, says, “I am proud to
inform you and the people of Chicago on behalf of the engineering staff of the
department of subways and its contractors, that Chicago’s first subway is
complete, ready for operation. I can
assure you of the thoroness [sic] and durability of this structure and the
safety of its equipment. This subway
compares more than favorably with any of the other undergrounds in the
country.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, October 17, 1943] This first phase of the city’s comprehensive
subway system starts at Armitage and Clybourn Avenues on the north and extends
to a point between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets under State Street.
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1 comment:
There was an El stop at Armitage and Clybourn? Underground? Whatever happened to it? The streets don't actually intersect, by the way - and based on the age of the buildings on the east side of Clybourn, they didn't intersect in 1943, either.
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