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150 Years on the Rail

The Interurban Era

Beginning in the late 1890s, yet another competing rail line was built through Evanston. A local Waukegan streetcar line grew into an interurban called the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric. The C&ME, owned by George A. Ball of Mason jar fame, negotiated with the CM&St.P to use the steam road's tracks between Llewellyn Park (located in today's Wilmette) and Church Street. This arrangement was a win for both railroads: the C&ME got an access route into downtown Evanston without the expense of acquiring its own right-of-way and building its own track; the CM&St.P got to remove its unprofitable suburban trains from the line. The tracks were electrified and service began on August 13, 1899. Stops were made at Isabella, Central, Noyes, Foster, and Church Streets.


Parlor-Buffet Car #400 of the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric ca. 1909.  It was replaced by a steel Cafe Car and converted to a coach in 1917 and retired in 1936.


Initially the village of Kenilworth refused to grant a franchise; passengers had to disembark at one side of the village, ride horse cars or walk to the opposite border, and board another train for the remainder of the journey. This situation was quickly resolved, however, and through service between Waukegan and Evanston began. By 1900, the track had been extended south one block to Davis Street, to bring it closer to the St. Paul's station. [Campbell (1980), p. 61] On the north end, the C&ME line reached Kenosha in 1905 and Milwaukee by 1908. The hourly trains took 2 hours 45 minutes to reach Milwaukee from Evanston. The C&ME built Ravinia Park along its line near Glencoe to help build ridership. The line also served the Great Lakes Naval Training Station as well as the Army base at Fort Sheridan, both a tremendous source of wartime business.

In 1916, after being in receivership for more than 8 years, the railroad was sold to utilities tycoon Samuel Insull and the name was changed to the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad, a.k.a. the North Shore Line. Since Insull also owned a controlling interest in the "L" it was only natural that the North Shore Line trains would be allowed to run all the way to Chicago's Loop via the "L" tracks; this service began on August 1, 1919. The NSL stops in Evanston were located at Church, Foster, Noyes, and Central.


Once through service to the Loop began, an upper-level platform was added to serve Loop-bound trains. Evanston-Waukegan locals continued to use the street level platform behind the NSL's Church Street station building. (Collection J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc.)

By 1925, the communities along the North Shore had grown to the point that congestion was once again a problem. The shore line between Waukegan and Church Street ran at ground level through crowded city streets, slowing the trolleys to a crawl. Just as the C&NW had done with its Mayfair Cut-off, the NSL built its own west-side bypass route, the famous Skokie Valley Route. [Middleton, pp. 47-51] The new line made a sharp left turn just north of Howard Street, and descended to a depressed right-of-way that ran west across Evanston's south side to Niles Center (Skokie), where it turned north again and ran through the Skokie valley. This new route cut running time between Chicago and Milwaukee by 20 minutes. Although the NSL made no stops in Evanston along this route, the "L" had stations at Ridge, Asbury, and Dodge Avenues. Eventually, the NSL routed all its trains over the Skokie Valley Route, abandoning the original Shore Line Route in 1955. [Middleton, p. 71]

The North Shore held several records in the traction world. In 1931, it was the fastest interurban, winning the "Electric Traction" speed trophy. And between 4 AM and 11 PM on June 24, 1926, it transported more than 200,000 people to and from the 28th International Eucharistic Congress in Mundelein, a feat which no other railroad has been able to duplicate.




One of the two North Shore Line Electroliners. (Photo from "Take a Ride on the North Shore" by Catenary Video Productions.)


In 1941, the NSL introduced the streamlined, articulated Electroliners in an effort to compete with the streamlined C&NW 400s and the Milwaukee Road Hiawathas. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. As it was for so many other passenger railroads, World War II was the North Shore Line's last hurrah. The combination of gasoline and rubber rationing, which got people out of their cars, and the military bases at Great Lakes and Fort Sheridan, which were conveniently located right next to the NSL's route, was a tremendous boost. But the end of the war saw a decline in ridership from which the NSL never recovered.  The NSL ceased all operations on a bitterly cold morning in January, 1963.