Then and Now, Dorchester-63rd

1906–Dorchester Avenue @ 63rd Street, view north

2020–the same location

Chicago’s first ‘L’ line opened over 63rd Street in 1893.  By 1906 apartments and commercial buildings had sprouted up along the route.  The Dorchester station was the last stop before the terminal at Stony Island Avenue.  The ‘L’ structure here was particularly high, to clear the Illinois Central tracks just to the east.

In a controversial move the city demolished the ‘L’ along this part of 63rd Street in the 1990s.  Much of the frontage along the street in now residential.  That  large building in the contemporary photo is actually on the far side of the alley, with a parking lot fronting 63rd.

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