Closure and demolition

Plans for Chicago to have a subway system to relieve the severe congestion of, if not replace, its elevated trackage dated back to the early 20th century, but the city lagged in building subways.^[14] Chicago petitioned the Public Works Administration (PWA) for construction funds for a subway under State Street in 1937.^[15] Originally included in the petition was a proposal for two downtown east-west streetcar tunnels.^[16] Harold L. Ickes, the administrator of the PWA and a longtime Chicagoan, vetoed the streetcar tunnel plan and insisted instead on a second subway that would go under Dearborn Street and Milwaukee Avenue, which would provide a more direct route from Logan Square to downtown.^[16] Although this idea engendered considerable local opposition, especially from mayor Edward Joseph Kelly, Ickes's influence in the federal government led to the Dearborn plan being adopted in 1938.^[16]

The subway's approval did not immediately imply the end of the old Logan Square branch. Damen Tower, serving the Humboldt Park branch divergence, was rebuilt with the expectation that it also would switch trains between the subway and the elevated, in the same manner as the State Street subway supplementing the earlier elevated North Side main line,^[17] and as late as 1949 commuters were promised such a setup that would have preserved the old Logan Square trackage.^[18] However, the CTA had no interest in operating either the old Logan Square elevated or the Humboldt Park branch; the new Damen Tower would never be installed with switching equipment, and the Logan Square branch south of Damen would be closed after the subway opened.^[17]

World War II interrupted the construction of the subway; although the federal government allowed the continued construction of the State Street subway, it did not do so for the Dearborn subway despite its being 82 percent complete in 1942.^[19] After the war ended, work resumed on the Dearborn subway and it opened at the midnight beginning Sunday, February 25, 1951.^[19] The subway was predicted to reduce the travel time between Logan Square and downtown from 28 minutes to 15.^[19] Despite complaints from riders no longer given a direct trip to the Near West Side,^[20][21] the new subway had over 60 percent higher ridership than the old Logan Square branch by the end of the year.^[22] The subway contains a station of its own on Division Street.^[19]

The old Logan Square trackage south of its entrance to the subway became known as the Paulina Connector, connecting the branch with the rest of the "L" system now that it no longer had revenue service to the Loop.^[23] Wooden parts from the old stations on the Connector, including Division, were removed to reduce fire hazards, as were the lowest flights of stairs to deter trespassing.^[24] The old northbound track was removed in 1957 while the southbound track continued non-revenue operations.^[23] The portion of the Connector north of Kinzie Street, including where Division, Chicago, and Grand stations stood, was demolished in 1964 and the right of way sold to adjacent landowners.^[25]

Accidents and incidents

On January 9, 1903, Mary Burke, the station agent on duty, was robbed of $35 ($1,100 in 2021) by three men. Shortly thereafter, a former bill poster for the Metropolitan was arrested in connection with the robbery and confessed to it, but refused to name his accomplices.^[26]

Operations and connections

As originally opened, the Metropolitan's trains ran every six minutes between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and every ten minutes during the night; the average speed was 16 mph (26 km/h).^[6] Unlike the Lake Street Elevated, which offered smoking and non-smoking cars, all of the Metropolitan's cars allowed smoking.^[6] Smoking was banned by the city across the "L" and in streetcars in response to a 1918 influenza outbreak, a prohibition that has remained in force ever since.^[28]

The fare across the "L" was legally mandated to be a nickel (5 cents, $1.37 in 2021) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This fare continued until temporarily increased by a cent to $0.06 ($1.27 in 2021) in 1917 before stabilizing to a dime (10 cents, $1.35 in 2021) in 1920.^[29] Starting in 1922, fares were usually marketed in packs of three for 25 cents, or 8+1⁄3 cents per ride ($1.35 in 2021), but individual fares remained 10 cents each.^[30] At the same time, a weekly pass was introduced, the first in a major American city, for $1.25 ($20.24 in 2021) for rides outside of Evanston and Wilmette.^[30] Fare control was usually by a station agent posted 24 hours a day, but conductors were used instead during night and off-peak hours from 1931 to 1934, and during 1936 and 1937.^[31]

When the Division station opened, Division Street had had a downtown-bound horse car service between Mozart Street and Milwaukee Avenue since June 27, 1890; this route included the site of the station.^[32] Initially these cars were pulled by cable cars on Milwaukee Avenue, but the route was electrified in 1896.^[32] By 1896, this was joined by a local streetcar on Division Street between Mozart and Wells Streets, also serving the station.^[33] As of 1928, the local service had no owl service, the last westbound car leaving Wells at 12:28 a.m., while the downtown service did, offering thirty-minute car intervals between 1:02 and 5:02 a.m.;^[34] during the day, streetcar lines in Chicago typically had intervals of between eight and fifteen minutes per car.^[35] The downtown service was closed on Sundays on March 6, 1932, to cut costs.^[33] The local service was extended from Wells Street to 21st and State Streets on August 19, 1937; by October 11, local Division cars were through-routed with cars on Van Buren Street about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the south in a U-shaped configuration from downtown.^[32] This continued with minor service detours until the CTA replaced the route with buses on February 4, 1951, on which date the downtown route was also abandoned.^[32] This bus route was a combination of the old streetcar services and a through-routing between another streetcar line on Division Street, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Mozart and 2.5 mi (4.0 km) from the station; a bus to combine the two stretches of streetcars on Division was instituted on October 1, 1941, and had replaced the western stretch of track altogether on July 9, 1946.^[32]

Ridership

In 1948, the last year records are available, Division served 353,570 passengers, a 17.64 percent decrease from the 429,315 riders of 1947.^[36]

In 1948, it was the 128th-most ridden of the 223 stations on the "L" at the beginning of the year that recorded ridership; in 1947, it had been the 115th-most ridden of 222 such stations.^{[lower-alpha 2][39]}