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Competing Rails The Milwaukee Road’s Legacy In Evanston And Wilmette Shore Line2
Competing Rails The Milwaukee Roads Legacy In Evanston And Wilmette
Shore Line Interurban Historical Society Dispatch Number 2
Softbound 83 pages
CONTENTS
Picturesque Evanston 1887 3
Introduction 4
Communities with a Rich Railroad History; Before the Chicago & North Western; Dr. John Evans Seeks Competition;The First Five Attempts to Create Competition; A Sixth Attempt Emerges -How a horse-car franchise is turned into a steam railroad; The Organization and Reorganization of the St. Paul's Evanston Line; Construction Begins; C&NW faces a competitor; Finally train service starts; Access to Chicago Union Depot is Achieved; Obtaining Ordinances from Evanston was a Challenge; The Debate Continues; Corporate Reorganization; Are They "Switches" or "Crossovers?;" Mr. Easton Comes to Evanston; Heading North from Davis Street; As Usual; Delays Ensued; Service Begins to Wil-mette-But Not Beyond:The Rapid Transit Heads North; Operational Changes in Chicago - C&E Exits the Territory
Street Railway Development Creates More Competition ... 22
The People Who Made It Happen; Construction Overview;A Connection to Chicago is Proposed; Streetcar Operations Begin; Yerkes Achieves Control; Service Extended Through Downtown to Northwest Evanston; Consolidation of Affiliated Companies; Changes Come with the Corporate Consolidations; Organizational Chart of the Evanston Lines; Ownership is split at the Chicago City Limits; A Cloudy Future; Evanston Railway Co. Emerges; Local Management Focuses on Service Enhancements; Buses replace the streetcars
All-time railroad maps of the area and Evanston-Wilmette . 35
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. in 1904; Northwestern Elevated Railroad builder's photos; Howard-Evanston Routes circa 1911; Wilmette-Chicago All-Time Rail Map; Evanston All-Time Rail Map; Evanston Streetcar Service All-Time Map; Chicago & Evanston Track Map (Irving to Cortland); Chicago & Evanston Track Map (Cortland to Kinzie); Goose Island; Deering Branch Line
North Shore & Western Railway 56
Electric Lines from North and South 60
Introduction; The St. Paul (Chicago & Evanston); Chicago & Milwaukee Electric; Northwestern Elevated;The St. Paul; Northwestern Elevated;The Story Begins; Electrification Plans;The Interurban Arrives from the North; Evanston's Rapid Transit Line; Evanston and Chicago Consider Ordinances;The Debates Drag On; Finally there is progress; Press coverage generated by the opening of rapid transit service to Evanston; Elevating the Railroad; Service is Extended to Wilmette
Front Cover1
Top photo, see page 13, bottom photo, see page 83
Back Cover 84
Express shipments are being transloaded from C&ME express car 6 at University Place and Benson Avenue, circa 1910. -Krambles-Peterson Archive
Introduction
Communities with a Rich
Railroad History
Evanston and Wilmette, the immediate neighbors of Chicago along the north shore of Lake Michigan, have a rich railroad history that dates from when 1854 turned into 1855. Trains of the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad began operating between Chicago and Waukegan with stagecoach connections beyond to Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chartered by the State of Illinois, the railroad had the legislative authority to build from Chicago along the shore of Lake Michigan through Waukegan to the state line with Wisconsin. While many other railroads
The history of railroads through Evanston and Wilmette is relatively complex. The names "Chicago," "Milwaukee," "North Shore" and "North Western" or "Northwestern" appear repeatedly, so a "scorecard" is needed to keep them apart.
Over the past 155 years, six different railways operated on routes that wove these two communities together; two steam railroads, two streetcar companies, a rapid transit company and an interurban electric railway that shared rights-of-way on two different routes.
Evanston is a community with a population of approximately 75,000 that was once part of the Grosse Pointe Territory. Its history and that of Northwestern University have been tied since the i ption of both entities in the 1850s. No west-
that village, widening the streets and adding parks. This new community was plotted by Philo Judson, an Evanston pioneer and the first business manager for the University. The campus was located on 378 acres of farm land on the shore of Lake Michigan purchased from Dr. John H. Foster for $25,000.
Orrington Lunt, another one of the nine founders, was asked to lend his name to the new community. He declined. The trustees then decided to honor John Evans, who happened to be Lunt's brother-in-law. In 1872, the community was renamed Evanston.
Another of Evans' brothers-in-law was Walter Gurnee, president of the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad, a predecessor of the Chicago & North Western. Gurnee as-
have come and gone, this route emains in service 155 years later.
Originally, water transportation along the shore of Lake Michigan between Chicago and points north carried most of the freight and passengers. In 1836, a stagecoach route was established between Chicago and Milwaukee, passing through what was to become Evanston on Ridge Road. The trip to Milwaukee took a day and one-half with an overnight stay in Kenosha. Half Day Road, through what is now Highland Park and Lincolnshire, got its name from the travel time by stage to and from Chicago. With the completion of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, the railroad became the predominate method of transportation between the two cities.
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