About two months ago, the Belmont ‘L’ station in Avondale was in the press as a secondary part of CTA’s retirement of the 2200 series railcars. This transit station in the International Style, along with sister stop Logan Square, was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill along with the then-new stainless steel cars in the late 1960s.

Although often overlooked as an architectural treasure, Belmont is a beautiful example of functional minimalism.

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Idle railcars in the yard at Kimball Brown Line.

After a 44 year run, the oldest cars on the CTA roster were retired from service on July 31st. In the weeks leading up to that date, I filmed several afternoon runs of the 2200 series on the Blue Line shown in the video above.

The streamlined stainless steel cars were loved by a few and loathed by many. They had their faults, but the 2200 series represented several firsts and set the design style which has existed on Chicago’s elevated transit cars ever since.

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Hidden in Washington Park on the South Side is a small Victorian building that is the oldest standing public transit structure in Chicago, and probably the the United States. It was built to connect downtown with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park.

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