Taylor Ave.

Taylor Avenue and Walnut Street, Village of Glen Ellyn

History:

Taylor Ave. was a local station on the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin’s main line at Taylor Avenue and Walnut Street in the village of Glen Ellyn. This station was not part of the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railway’s initial scheme for stops,1 but was instead added later—some time prior to 1907.2

Traveling west from Glen Oak, the line rose up onto a solid fill embankment where it traversed Taylor Avenue. A stop was created here with the installation of a pair of low level, side platforms on the embankment west of the viaduct and a set of stairs down to street level. Prior to 1920, a frame passenger shelter with a hipped roof was added to the eastbound platform.3

Taylor Ave. (like all local stations on the CA&E) was a flag stop. Each platform was equipped with a flag stop semaphore which was activated with a pull chain. People wishing to catch a train pulled the chain raising the semaphore (the “flag”) which notified the motorman to stop. If the flag was not raised, the train did not stop even if it was listed as a stop for that train on the timetable. A passenger onboard a train wishing to alight at Taylor Ave. had to notify a conductor of his or her intention to disembark.

With the cutback of service from Wells Street to Forest Park due to the construction of the Congress Street Superhighway [Eisenhower Expressway (I-290)] in 1953, large numbers of passengers fled the CA&E, crippling the railroad financially. In response, in 1956, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) reviewed two similar plans for assuming operation of the line between Forest Park and Wheaton. A/B skip-stop service would have been implemented over the main line under both schemes. One would have used rebuilt PCC streetcars which would have operated between Wheaton and Forest Park where transfers to the “L” would be made.4 Taylor Ave. would have become a “B” stop.5 The other plan called for using existing CA&E rolling stock and would have provided direct service to the Loop via the Garfield Park/Congress branch, the Paulina Connector, and the Lake Street Elevated.6 Under this plan all stations west of Stewart Ave. would have been designated “C” stations (along with Villa Park and York St.) thereby providing express service to the Loop from those points during rush hour. Taylor Ave. would have remained a flag stop and trains would only stop upon signal.7

CTA did not assume operation of the CA&E and neither plan was put into operation.

After the shutdown of CA&E passenger service on July 3, 1957, the shelter, platforms, stairs, and the viaduct over Taylor Avenue were eventually removed. The Illinois Prairie Path, a multi-use trail which occupies the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin’s right-of-way, passes through this location on a new viaduct.

Full station profile and history coming soon.

Sources:

  1. “The Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway.” Street Railway Journal Oct. 1902: 407. Print.
  2. The Great Third Rail IV-14
  3. “COST TO REPRODUCE NEW LESS DEPRECIATION BASED ON INVENTORY AND COSTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1920: INVENTORY QUANTITIES AND VALUES.” Chicago Aurora and Railroad Company: n.d. 200. Print.
  4. “STUDIES RELATING TO A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR C. A. & E. SERVICE.” Chicago Transit Authority 18 Apr. 1956: 8. Print.
  5. “STUDIES RELATING TO A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR C. A. & E. SERVICE.” Chicago Transit Authority 18 Apr. 1956: Appendix 2-3. Print.
  6. “STUDIES RELATING TO A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR C. A. & E. SERVICE.” Chicago Transit Authority 18 Apr. 1956: 3. Print.
  7. “STUDIES RELATING TO A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR C. A. & E. SERVICE.” Chicago Transit Authority 18 Apr. 1956: Appendix 1-1. Print.