The station opened on October 28, 1962 and was formerly called Harlem Terminal. The Lake Street Elevated went further through Oak Park and was built to Marion Street in 1901 and extended just a few blocks west past Harlem Avenue to Forest Park station on May 20, 1910. It was built at street-level and the tracks also paralleled the adjacent Chicago & North Western Railroad and the street-level operation began to result a number of crossing accidents for both railroads, typically due to pedestrians and wagon drivers failing to take note of approaching trains. Neither the "L" nor the C&NW had any type of crossing protection originally. Harlem was a consolidation of the Forest Park and Marion stations.
Location
The station is located at 1 South Harlem Avenue and is the northwestern terminus of the Green Line. Though the station is named Harlem/Lake, Lake Street does not intersect with the station; the station is located at Harlem Avenue and South Boulevard. The station is next to the Oak Park Metra commuter railroad station. It is located between the Oak Park and Forest Park boundary line at Harlem Avenue.
