Oakton–Skokie is a rapid transit station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line, which serves Skokie's downtown. Previously, a station existed at this location which was in operation as part of the CTA's Niles Center Route from 1925 until 1948, and later demolished in 1964. The current station opened on April 30, 2012.HistoryIn the 1920s, both the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the North Shore Line (an interurban railroad linking Chicago and Milwaukee) existed under the private ownership of Samuel Insull. The North Shore Line's original route to Milwaukee ran through numerous North Shore communities that had become densely settled. In order to provide faster service between Chicago and Milwaukee, the North Shore Line decided to build a high-speed bypass several miles west of its original line. The new route would traverse the Skokie Valley and converge with the 'L' at Howard. In an attempt to encourage development in the village of Niles Center on the southern portion of the line, the Chicago Rapid Transit Company would operate rapid transit service as far as Dempster Street.The new "Niles Center Route" included several intermediate stations served only by the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, including one at Oakton Street, just a few blocks from the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Oakton Street where the business district of Niles Center was forming. Arthur U. Gerber, staff architect for Samuel Insull, designed the station in the Prairie School style, similar to the Dempster station at the end of the line. The station at Oakton was smaller and set between the tracks, with a single high-level island platform projecting from the rear of the station house.
