the elevated train in chicago was built in 1892.
when was the elevated train in chicago built?
1892
as the 20th century began, chicago had already annexed land west of western avenue, greatly increasing the west side. east garfield park, west garfield park, and humboldt park had been sparsely populated throughout the late 19th century, but the addition of transportation infrastructure increased the population quickly. in 1892, the first elevated train line was constructed on the south side and a year later, the lake street elevated railroad opened, providing transportation service from the city center to the west side. in 1895, the metropolitan west side elevated railroad opened, which provided elevated train service down harrison street on its garfield park branch and also elevated train service down north avenue on its humboldt park branch. elements of these elevated train lines are used today for the cta green line and blue line. industry began to dominate this area further west. sears, roebuck and company was founded in 1893, and in 1906 built its merchandise and catalog center in lawndale near the intersection of homan avenue and arthington street. the north western railway had thousands of their employees establish a community in west garfield park. at this point, the west side had immigrant industrial employees from all over europe. there was a polish majority in west town; the danish, norwegians, and russian jews populated humboldt park, and italians were in east garfield park. however, a dramatic change in the city's population occurred with the great migration of blacks from the southern united states into the urban north.
west side, chicago
the "exact" city the series was set in was never specified, and the producers left this detail deliberately vague. for example, the call letters of local tv stations were obscured to avoid showing whether they began with "w" (the federal communications commission designation for stations east of the mississippi) or "k" (signifying a station west of the mississippi). however, one episode in season three specifically mentions a radio station of wdpd. there are several mentions through the series of characters going down to "the shore", which implies a lake or coastal setting. one general indication of setting within the show was given by the southern-accented renko's (charles haid) statement to his partner in the season one episode "politics as usual": "just drop that 'cowboy' stuff. i was born in new jersey, [and] never been west of chicago in my life." season 2 episode 18 mentions delaware park, and shows an elevated train on which "cta" can clearly be seen, suggesting chicago, and previous mention of a location being across the river in newark. season five episode four mentions a subway, and specifically shows a shot of an elevated train system.
hill street blues