It is located south of the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad tracks which curve to the north of the station towards Madison Street where the line rechristens itself to the Canadian National Railway's Waukesha Subdivision.

An amusement park was located in this lot for 14 years (1908-1922) when an enormous fire incinerated parts of it, causing it to be shut down permanently.

Forest Park, however, is one of the few stations in the Congress Branch line that is not in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, and is 350 meters (1,148 ft 4 in) north of it.

In 1966, the park-and-ride lot with 1,051 spaces was opened and a new station was built and completed in December 1982 along with the Transit Center that provides connection to many bus lines.

The bridge and new approaches permit a direct crossing over the Des Plaines River, allowing the main stem of the Illinois Prairie Path to terminate further east, at the Forest Park station.