History
58th opened on January 22, 1893, when the South Side Elevated Railroad expanded southward to serve the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. The station was designed by Myron H. Church and built by the Rapid Transit and Bridge Construction Company, and it included elements of the Queen Anne style as well as the Chicago school. The original station house was brick and had a half-cone bay at the top of the building. 58th was built with an island platform, an anomaly among the South Side Elevated stations which generally had two side platforms. The original canopy was hump-shaped; this style was common among South Side Elevated stations at the time, but the canopy at 58th outlasted most of the original canopies at other stations.
When the Englewood Branch became part of the South Side Elevated in 1905, 58th became the transfer station between the Englewood and Jackson Park branches. At the start of the branch's operation, the South Side Elevated ran shuttle trains from 58th to the end of the branch, and passengers had to take Jackson Park trains from 58th. Express service from Englewood to downtown was established in 1906, and the shuttle to 58th was discontinued in 1911. 58th remained the transfer station between the two branches until A/B skip stop service went into effect in 1949. The station then became an "A" station and only served Englewood trains, and 51st became the transfer station between the two branches. 58th shortly became the transfer point again in 1993 when the CTA discontinued skip-stop service.
The CTA began to rebuild 58th in 1983. The platform was rebuilt first, and the original canopy was replaced with a new canopy which extended over the rails. The station house was scheduled to be rebuilt in 1986; it was paid for by a separate project because of the CTA's lack of funds for renovation. However, the project was delayed until 1988. The original station house was then removed, but a new station house was never built, and temporary turnstiles were installed on the platform.
Read more about this topic: 58th (CTA Station)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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