View source for Congress Terminal

{{Short description|Former rapid transit station}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Confuse|Congress/Wabash station}}
{{Infobox Station
 | name          ={{Infobox station/Header CTA |name=Congress Terminal |color=PreKDR |grid=500S 25E|size=.73}}
 | image         =Congress-terminal.png
 | alt           =A train station is depicted in a newspaper sketch, with a humped canopy and an implied track (this is from street view) to the viewer's right. There is no station house present, as that was served by an adjacent building, here to the viewer's left of the platform.
 | image_caption =The Congress Street Terminal in 1892
 | address       =Congress Parkway and Holden Court<br>[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
 | coordinates   ={{coord|41.8757|-87.6268|type:railwaystation_region:US-IL|display=inline, title}}
 | line          =[[South Side Elevated (CTA)|South Side Elevated]]
 | other         =
 | structure     =Elevated
 | platform      =1 [[Side platform]]
 | depth         =
 | levels        =
 | tracks        =1 track
 | parking       =
 | bicycle       =
 | baggage_check =
 | opened        =June 6, 1892<ref name="Tribune">{{cite news|title=Running on the "L."|date=June 7, 1892|newspaper=Chicago Tribune |volume=51 |issue=159 |page=9 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112503362/chicago-tribune/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
 | closed        =August 1, 1949 (CTA)<br />January 21, 1963 (CNS&M)
 | rebuilt       =
 | electrified   =
 | accessible    =
 | code          =
 | owned         =[[Chicago Transit Authority]]
 | zone          =
 | former        =
 | passengers    =
 | pass_year     =
 | pass_percent  =
 | pass_system   =
 | mpassengers   =
 | services      =
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-custom = {{Infobox mapframe |shape=none |marker=rail |marker-color=#888 |zoom=15 }}
| other_services_header=Former services
| other_services=
{{Adjacent stations|system1=North Shore Line
|line=Main|right=Roosevelt
|system3=CTA|line3=South Side|right3=Roosevelt}}
 | route_map     = 
{{Routemap|legend=track|inline=1|map=
uexhENDEa\\
uexhPSTR(L)\\
uexhPSTR(L)\\
uexhPSTR(L)\\
uexhSTR+hk2\uexhkSTR3+l\uexhCONTgeq~~ ~~to South Side
uexhkABZg+1\hkSTR-c4!~uexhSTR+l\uexhCONTfq~~ ~~to [[The Loop (CTA)|Loop]]
uexhKRWgl\uexhKRWg+r\
uexhKRWg+l\uexhKRWgr\
uexhCONTf\uexhCONTge\
}}
|map_state=collapsed
}}

'''Congress Terminal''' was a [[rapid transit]] station on the [[Chicago "L"]], serving its [[South Side Elevated]]. It was located at Congress Parkway over Holden Court.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chicago-l.org/stations/congress_term.html |title=Congress Terminal |author=Garfield, Graham |date= |work= |publisher=Chicago-L.org |accessdate=2008-12-09}}</ref> The terminal opened in 1892 as the original northern terminus of the Elevated; when the Loop was constructed in 1897, the terminal closed and was replaced by the Elevated's [[Congress/Wabash station]] about {{convert|200|feet}} away. The Loop's congestion issues led to the terminal's reopening in 1902, renamed '''Old Congress''' to distinguish it from the Congress/Wabash station.

Congress Terminal was built by the [[Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad]] and was one of Chicago's original 'L' stations. On August 1, 1949, the CTA stopped service to the terminal as part of the service revision introducing A-B Skip-Stop service to the south side.<ref name="North-South AB">{{cite news |title=Begin Skip-Stop Runs Monday on North, South 'L' |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 29, 1949 |volume=108 |issue=179 |page=A9 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112507035/begin-skip-stop-runs-monday-on-north/ |access-date=November 4, 2022|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The [[Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad]] continued to use the station as a baggage terminal until the line quit in 1963.

==Nomenclature==
The name of the station was fluid over time. It was referred to as the "Congress street station" and "Congress street terminus" in 1892,<ref name="Tribune"/> and the "State&ndash;Congress terminal" upon its closing in 1949.<ref name="North-South AB"/>

==History==
===Opening and original use (1892&ndash;1897)===
{{Main|South Side Elevated}}
The South Side Elevated Railroad was incorporated in 1888, and commenced operations on June 6, 1892.<ref name="Tribune"/> Its northern terminus was a station on Congress Street that was a one-track and one-platform affair. The congestion at the terminal was such that the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' remarked that:
{{blockquote|Something should be done by the managers of the South Side Rapid Transit company to relieve the congestion at the Congress street station. As matters now stand not only is no provision made for the hauling of a crowd of passengers of any dimensions whatever, but the arrangement of the passengers leading to the platform of the station is such as to preclude the possibility of accommodating a rush. The first stairway leading from the street is broad enough, but after the second story of the building is reached quite a difficulty is encountered. Passengers fall into line and then force themselves into a narrow passage leading to the ticket-window, after which they take a tack to the right and ascend the stairs leading to the platform where the train is to be taken.{{pb}}In case of a crush at this narrow passageway{{snd}}and there is always a crush where forty or fifty people come into the station at once in a hurry to take a train{{snd}}the movement is so slow that a jam inevitably results, the consequence being that many persons must necessarily miss a train they could have otherwise taken. It is admitted by the elevated railroad people that the arrangement is a bad one, but promise that everything will be remedied before the World's Fair crowds come upon them. This, however, is hardly enough. A change just now would be welcome and result in increased passenger traffic. Many people yesterday, not caring to brave the crush at the ticket-seller's window, became disgusted and went away to take the [[Cable cars in Chicago|cable car]]s, which, however crowded, admit the possibility of being boarded.<ref name="Tribune"/>}}

===Loop and disuse (1897&ndash;1902)===
The Loop opened, resulting in the closure of the Terminal.

===Reuse and final days (1902&ndash;1963)===
The Loop became overcrowded, so the old Congress terminal was reopened in 1902. To prevent confusion with the nearby [[Congress/Wabash station]], it was renamed "Old Congress".

==Station details==
Throughout its existence, the terminal was a single-track operation with a platform on its eastern end.

===Operations and connections===
As originally opened, the South Side Elevated took 14 minutes to go between Congress and 39th streets, half the time the State Street cable car route took.<ref name="Tribune"/> Service was 24 hours, with trains run every 20 minutes between midnight and 5 a.m.; every 14 minutes between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and between 10 p.m. and midnight; every 6 minutes between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; and every 3 minutes between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. and 4 to 6:30 p.m. during [[rush hour]]s.<ref name="Tribune"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd-8pBS9IxA&t=2232s A narrated 1949 view of the Congress Terminal]

{{Former Chicago "L" stations navbox|South=Yes}}

{{Chicago terminals}}

[[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1892]]
[[Category:1892 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:1963 disestablishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:Chicago "L" terminal stations]]
[[Category:Former North Shore Line stations]]
[[Category:Defunct Chicago "L" stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1963]]
[[Category:Demolished railway stations in the United States]]


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