User:Lost on Belmont/Chicago and Evanston Railroad

The Chicago and Evanston Railroad was a railroad consisting of a single line built to connect the city of Chicago with suburban Evanston and Wilmette. The railroad, which took more than twenty years to get built, would ultimately become a branch of the Milwaukee Road. Passenger service was largely abandoned in 1908, when the Northwestern Elevated Railroad assumed operation of the northern portion of the line. Freight operations continued into the 1970s, until that service was acquired by the Chicago Transit Authority. Segments of the line continue as portions of the Red and Purple Lines of the Chicago 'L' system and the Chicago Terminal Railroad.

History
Service began May 1, 1885, with the first train running south from Calvary Cemetery in the village of South Evanston to Larrabee Street and Chicago Avenue in Chicago. The first train consisted of a single passenger car hauled by a 4-4-0 locomotive running backwards. Only five people rode on the first trip. The Line was extended south to Kinzie Street on May 19, 1885, with service beginning from that point the same day.

The Chicago and Evanston Railroad opened May 21, 1885, with tracks from Kinzie Street in Chicago to Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.

Special stockholders meeting held on Tuesday, December 22, 1885, to vote on consolidating the Chicago and lake Superior Railroad with the Chicago and Evanston Railroad.

Chicago, Evanston and Lake Superior Railroad was transferred to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad on August 9, 1890, for a sum of $91,666.

On May 31, 1900, the Northwestern Elevated began running trains from the Loop to its Wilson Avenue terminal, which was adjacent to the Sheridan Park station.

The St. Paul ended passenger service north of Sheridan Park on May 15, 1908. This coincided with the extension of the Northwestern Elevated over the St. Paul’s tracks to Central Street the following day. South of Sheridan Park service continued but was cut to two trains per day: one in the morning and one in the evening running both ways to Union Station. These trains continued running until June 1917.

Route
Once fully completed, the line traveled north from Union Station in Chicago, through Lake View, then the villages of Rogers Park, South Evanston, Evanston, and North Evanston to Wilmette.

The line then shifted several blocks to the east between Bary and Waveland Avenues. The first curve began at Bary Avenue and brought the line to a northeasterly alignment (a diagonal relative to the Chicago street grid). In 1907, the Northwestern Elevated would build its Ravenswood branch which would pass over the line along this stretch just east of Racine Avenue. At Cornelia Avenue, the right-of-way curved to bring the line back into a north-south alignment on the west side of Seminary Avenue. The Addison stop was at the northern portion of this curve. In 1914, Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field) would open at this location. Between Irving Park Road and Montrose Avenue the Chicago and Evanston ran along the eastern edge of Graceland Cemetery. The Buena station was in the middle of this stretch. After 1909, the Northwestern Elevated paralleled the line on its eastern side north of Irving Park.

North of Howard Street, the line entered the village of South Evanston (annexed by Evanston in 1892) and met up with and paralleled the Chicago and North Western Railway’s line to Milwaukee on its eastern side. Both lines had stations at Calvary Cemetery, Main Street, and Dempster Street. The main station in Evanston was at Church Street (half a block north of the competing C&NW Davis Street station). It was at this point that the railroads diverged; the Evanston line continued north, while the Chicago and North Western angled away to the northwest. (North Evanston annexed “after the Civil War.”) After a stop at Noyes Street, the tracks curved to the northwest. The last stop in North Evanston was at Central Street, after which the line crossed into Wilmette. The last stop, Llewellyn Park, was just north of the city limits at Hill Street (present day Maple Avenue) and 3rd Street.