Laflin was a rapid transit station operated by the Chicago "L"'s Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad and located on its main line.

The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company was granted a 50-year franchise by the Chicago City Council on April 7, 1892,[2] and began securing right of way shortly thereafter.

[9] The Metropolitan began service at 6 a.m. on Monday, May 6, 1895, between Robey on the Logan Square branch[a] and Canal on the main line.

Despite the oilers' greasy clothes and wooden surroundings, no fire broke out and neither car was irreparably damaged, although traffic on the line was delayed by half an hour.

The main line was quadruple-tracked throughout its length; its stations, including Laflin, originally had two island platforms between an inner and outer track.

Funeral train service was discontinued in 1934 after having been rendered obsolete by advances in road paving and automotive technology.

[1] Between 1900 and 1951, Laflin was the station on the main line with the lowest ridership every year except for 1904, when the Wells Street Terminal did not open until autumn and consequently underserved it.

In the last year of its operations, 1951, Laflin serviced 94,764 passengers, whereas the station on the main line with the next-lowest ridership, the Wells Street Terminal, had 272,169.