Ashland is an 'L' station on the CTA's Green and Pink Lines. It is an elevated station with two side platforms, located in Chicago's Near West Side neighborhood at 1601 West Lake Street. Just to the west of the station the Pink Line branches off from the Lake Street branch to follow the Paulina Connector to the Cermak branch. The adjacent stations are California, which is located about 1+1/2mi to the west, Polk, which is located about 1mi to the south, and Morgan station, approximately 3/4mi to the east.HistoryAshland Station opened on November 6, 1893 as part of the Lake Street Elevated Railroad's initial route, and it is one of the oldest standing stations on the 'L'. The station closed on April 4, 1948, along with nine other stations on the Lake Street branch, but later reopened on February 25, 1951, the same day the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway opened for service. During the two-year closure of the Green Line from 1994–1996, the station was restored and elevators were added to make the station ADA compliant.Structure and locationAshland is the closest 'L' station to the United Center home of the Chicago Bulls NBA team and the Chicago Blackhawks NHL team. It is also directly adjacent to Union Park, venue for the Intonation Music Festival and the Pitchfork Music Festival.
