The Blue Line is a 26.93-mile-long (43.34 km) Chicago "L" line which runs from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway and across the West Side to its southwest end in Forest Park, with a total of 33 stations. At about 27 miles, it is the longest line on the Chicago "L" system and second busiest, and one of the longest local subway/elevated lines in the world. It has an average of 72,475 passengers boarding each weekday in 2023.
Millennium Station is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra Electric District to Chicago's southern suburbs, and the western terminus of the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana.
Greektown is a social and dining district, located on the Near West Side of Chicago. Today, Greektown consists mostly of restaurants and businesses, although a cultural museum and an annual parade and festival still remain in the neighborhood.
LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a 17th century French explorer of the Illinois Country. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district.
Wells Street Terminal was a stub-end downtown terminal on the 'L' in Chicago, Illinois, located at Wells Street between Jackson Boulevard and Van Buren Street. The terminal was in operation from 1904 to 1953.
Between 1892 and 1906, Chicago had three cable car tunnels under the Chicago River. Two were built for pedestrian and horse traffic and later converted, the third was built specially for cable-cars. After cable service ended they would be used by electric streetcars.
Van Buren Street station is a commuter rail station in downtown Chicago that serves the Metra Electric Line to University Park, Blue Island, and South Chicago neighborhood; and the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana.
Harold Washington Library-State/Van Buren,, is an 'L' station serving the CTA's Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. Originally, the station was to have direct access to the second floor of the Harold Washington Library building, but this direct connection was never built. Farecard transfers are also available at the station for the Red and Blue Lines via the Jackson/State and Jackson/Dearborn subway stations, respectively. It was originally known as State/Van Buren when it first opened in 1897. The original station closed on September 2, 1973, along with six other stations, due to low ridership, and demolished in 1975. The new station was rebuilt and reopened on June 22, 1997 in order to serve the Harold Washington Library. The Chicago Transit Authority board voted unanimously on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, to rename the station to its current name.
LaSalle/Van Buren is a Chicago "L" station in downtown Chicago serving the CTA's Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. LaSalle/Van Buren is one of the eight stations in the Loop. The station opened on October 3, 1897. LaSalle Street Station, terminal for Metra's Rock Island District trains, is less than a block from the station.
Jackson is an "L" station on the CTA's Red Line in the Loop. Free transfers to Blue Line trains are available at this station via a lower level transfer tunnel to the Jackson station in the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway and farecard transfers to Purple, Orange, Brown and Pink Line trains are available via the Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren Loop Elevated station.
Monroe is a subway station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. It is located in the Chicago Loop, Chicago's downtown district.
Jackson is an 'L' station on the CTA's Blue Line, located in the Loop.
The Loop is the 1.79-mile-long (2.88 km) circuit of elevated rail that forms the hub of the Chicago "L" system in the United States. As of April 2024, the branch served 40,341 passengers on an average weekday. The Loop is so named because the elevated tracks loop around a rectangle formed by Lake Street, Wabash Avenue (east), Van Buren Street (south), and Wells Street (west). The railway loop has given its name to Chicago's downtown, which is also known as the Loop.
The Chicago Club, founded in 1869, is a private social club located at 81 East Van Buren Street at Michigan Avenue in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Its membership has included many of Chicago's most prominent businessmen, politicians, and families.
The Printing House Row District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing four architecturally important buildings on South Dearborn Street, between Jackson Boulevard and Ida B. Wells Drive, in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row Historic District and listed as a National Historic Landmark as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row North Historic District on January 7, 1976. The district includes the Monadnock Building, the Manhattan Building, the Fisher Building, and the Old Colony Building.
Wells Street is a major north–south street in Chicago. It is officially designated as 200 West, and is named in honor of William Wells, a United States Army Captain who died in the Battle of Fort Dearborn. Between 1870 and 1912, it was named 5th Avenue so as not to tarnish the name of Wells during a period when the street had a bad reputation.
The Metropolitan main line was a rapid transit line of the Chicago "L" system from 1895 to 1958. It ran west from downtown to a junction at Marshfield station. At this point the Garfield Park branch continued westward, while the Douglas Park branch turned south, and the Logan Square branch turned north with the Humboldt Park branch branching from it. In addition to serving the Chicago "L", its tracks and those of the Garfield Park branch also carried the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, an interurban that served Chicago's western suburbs, between 1905 and 1953.
The Milwaukee–Dearborn subway is an underground section of the Chicago "L" system in The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. It is 3.85 mi (6.20 km) long and forms the central part of the Blue Line. As of February 2013, the subway serves an average of 44,584 passengers each weekday. Since the subway is served by the Blue Line, it is open to passengers 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
The Fort Dearborn Hotel is a skyscraper and former hotel located at 401 S. Lasalle St. in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The 17-story hotel was designed by Holabird & Roche and finished in 1914. Designed in the Venetian Renaissance style, the hotel was built with gray and reddish brown brick and featured terra cotta ornamentation. The lobby features two murals by local artist Edgar Cameron depicting scenes of Fort Dearborn. The hotel was built to serve businessmen during a period of extensive hotel construction in Chicago; its site was chosen for its access to transportation, as it was located near LaSalle Street Station and the LaSalle/Van Buren 'L' station. The Hotel Sherman Co. owned both the Fort Dearborn Hotel and the nearby Hotel Sherman, and the two hotels had a common management and kitchen staff. However, while the Hotel Sherman was a typical luxury hotel of the era, the Fort Dearborn Hotel focused on providing practical amenities at lower rates and set an example as a "popular, commercial hotel". The hotel is now an office building known as the LaSalle Atrium Building.
Franklin/Van Buren was a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Metropolitan Main Line. The station was located at Franklin Street and Van Buren Street in downtown Chicago. Franklin/Van Buren opened on October 11, 1897, and closed 58 years later on October 11, 1955.
