Here, the Green Line tracks diverge from the railroad embankment and continue east on a steel elevated structure directly above Lake Street, a major east–west thoroughfare.

The other stations on this section are at Cermak–McCormick Place and 35th–Bronzeville–IIT, adjacent to the Illinois Institute of Technology campus and the Chicago Police Department Headquarters.

The "L" tracks continues west to a stub end at Hermitage Avenue, a prediction for a future extension of the route westward, however, those plans were canceled in the late 1970s.

The East 63rd branch continues south from the mainline between Calumet and Prairie Avenues, passing the old yard and inspection facilities at 61st Street in Washington Park.

The South Side section started operation in 1892 when Chicago was preparing for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Jackson Park.

The initial section was built to provide inexpensive mass transportation service between downtown Chicago and the exposition site.

This first section of the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad between Wabash Avenue and State Street went into service on June 6, 1892.

At that time a large part of the south side was little more than prairie, but by May 1, 1893, when the pioneer "L" line was completed to Jackson Park, construction of homes, apartment buildings and commercial properties was booming in the area.

Continued expansion of the area development was reflected in construction of the Englewood, Normal Park, Kenwood and Stock Yards branches of the South Side "L" between 1905 and 1908.

The construction of the Lake Street Elevated led to a political quarrel in west suburban Cicero, which at the time included Oak Park and Austin.

This infuriated other Cicero residents, who retaliated the following year by holding a joint election to force Austin's annexation to the City of Chicago.

A century later, Oak Park commuters, who had come to depend on the service, were among the most vocal critics of the Green Line's closure for rehabilitation.

On October 17, 1943, the Englewood and Jackson Park services were rerouted into the State Street subway to provide improved crosstown access through the heart of city and to alleviate congestion on the over-crowded Union Loop Elevated.

On December 12, 1982, the Jackson Park branch was shortened to University because of structural deterioration at the Dorchester Bridge which carried the route across the Illinois Central Railroad to the former Stony Island/63rd terminal which closed on March 4, 1982, and was later demolished.

The Lake Street "L" would remain largely unchanged until 1948, when a number of its historic passenger stations were closed and demolished in an attempt to promote the "A" and "B" skip-stop express train service to speed up traffic flow.

Six stations (Homan, Halsted, 58th, 61st, University, and Racine) were closed permanently following the rehabilitation project, which angered many commuters who depend on the Green Line.

In September 1997, after political pressure brought on by community leaders, the Jackson Park branch was shortened again from University to Cottage Grove after previous attempts by the city, CTA, and other agencies to extend the route eastward to Dorchester, immediately west of the Illinois Central Railroad.

This had seemed logical to the Dorchester Terminal, due to the fact that the Metra Electric District and South Shore Line both share a station along the IC ROW, at 63rd Street.

However the motorman continued to apply power forward; which led to three cars being pushed off the elevated tracks to the street below.

Service was back to normal in the affected stops around 7:15 p.m.[9] On June 6, 2019, a Green Line train derailed near the 47th station, injuring seven people.

While no official plans have been developed, the possibility of extending the tracks once again and reconstructing a new Stony Island/63rd terminal station (which was the former terminus of this eastern branch) to serve the upcoming Barack Obama Presidential Center would be very advantageous.