Harlem/Lake

1200W
100S

Chicago 'L' rapid transit station

Station platform, looking east. The Oak Park Metra station can be seen in the background.

General information

Location

1 South Harlem Avenue
Forest Park, Illinois 60130

Coordinates

41°53′13″N 87°48′17″W / 41.88706°N 87.80486°W

Owned by

Chicago Transit Authority

Line(s)

Lake Branch

Platforms

1 Island platform

Tracks

2

Connections

Metra: Oak Park
CTA Buses
Pace Buses

Construction

Structure type

Elevated

Accessible

Yes

History

Opened

October 28, 1962

Rebuilt

1996

Previous names

Harlem Terminal
Harlem

Passengers

2022

511,312^[1]

12.3%

Services

Preceding station	Chicago "L"			Following station
Terminus		Green Line		Oak Park toward Ashland/63rd or Cottage Grove

Track layout

Legend

Harlem Yard (Green)

UP-W west to Elburn

Circle Ave.

IL 43 (Harlem Ave.)

↖Forest Park|River Forest↗

↓Oak Park

Green ends

Green Harlem/Lake

North Blvd.

Marion St.

South Blvd.

UP-W Oak Park

Green to
Ashland/63rd or
Cottage Grove

UP-W east to Ogilvie

Location

Harlem/Lake, announced as Harlem, is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Green Line. It is the northwestern terminus of the Green Line.

History

Harlem destination sign

The station opened on October 28, 1962 and was formerly called Harlem Terminal. The Lake Street Elevated went further through Oak Park and was built to Marion Street in 1901 and extended just a few blocks west past Harlem Avenue to Forest Park station on May 20, 1910. It was built at street-level and the tracks also paralleled the adjacent Chicago & North Western Railroad and the street-level operation began to result a number of crossing accidents for both railroads, typically due to pedestrians and wagon drivers failing to take note of approaching trains. Neither the "L" nor the C&NW had any type of crossing protection originally. Harlem was a consolidation of the Forest Park and Marion stations.

Location

The station is located at 1 South Harlem Avenue and is the northwestern terminus of the Green Line. Though the station is named Harlem/Lake, Lake Street does not intersect with the station; the station is located at Harlem Avenue and South Boulevard. The station is next to the Oak Park Metra commuter railroad station. It is located between the Oak Park and Forest Park boundary line at Harlem Avenue.