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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Main station (CTA Niles Center branch)

former Chicago 'L' station

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ6735895 ↗
Source-derived summary

Main was a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Niles Center branch, now known as the Yellow Line. The station was located at Main Street and Niles Center Road in Skokie, Illinois. Main was situated south of Dempster and north of Oakton. Main opened on March 28, 1925, and closed on March 27, 1948, upon the closing of the Niles Center branch.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Main station (CTA Niles Center branch)” is former Chicago 'L' station. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Main, station and Niles, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1925, 1948—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Main, station and Niles is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “former Chicago 'L' station” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6735895. Authority coordinates are 42.034, -87.750. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1925 and 1948.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Main station (CTA Niles Center branch)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Main station (CTA Niles Center branch) primary sources, Main station (CTA Niles Center branch) archive and Main research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Main station (CTA Niles Center branch)”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Main station (CTA Niles Center branch)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.