🛷 Damen station (CTA Blue Line)

Damen is a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L", serving the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line. Opened on May 6, 1895, as Robey, it is the oldest station on the Blue Line and one of the few surviving stations originally built for the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. The station serves the popular Bucktown and Wicker Park neighborhoods, and is consistently in the top 40 highest-ridership "L" stations. It has two wooden side platforms and a brick station house at street level. The west platform, serving southbound trains, contains a tower that has never been used but is a relic of the station's past. The station is served by three bus routes on Damen, Milwaukee, and North Avenues, which are each descended from streetcar lines on those streets in the early 20th century. The Blue Line has owl service; while the surrounding streetcar lines also had owl service in the early 20th century, the modern bus services do not.