Dispatch No. 2, Competing Rails: The Milwaukee Road's Legacy in Evanston and Wilmette
Dispatch No. 2, published in February 2011, is Competing Rails: The Milwaukee Road's Legacy in Evanston and Wilmette.
Learn all the details about early rail competition on Chicago's North Shore, steam vs. electricity, and connecting Evanston and Chicago by rail
What is Competing Rails all about? John Evans, one of the founders of Northwestern University, desired rail competition. He did not want the Chicago & North Western to be the exclusive railroad in Evanston, Illinois. He obtained a horse-car franchise that ended up as a steam railroad commuter service, the Chicago Evanston & Lake Superior, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, operating between Chicago Union Depot and Evanston. (In those days The Milwaukee Road was referred to as the “St. Paul.”) The St. Paul’s plans to expand beyond Evanston never materialized. Instead from the north came the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric, predecessor of the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee.
This is a complex story full of business, political and financial intrigue covering the early days of the railroads serving Evanston. A subsequent edition of the Dispatch series, Surviving Rails, will cover the rapid transit, interurban and suburban rail operations that have served Evanston and Wilmette over the past 100 years.
Dispatch No. 2, Competing Rails, is available from Shore Line for $15.00. Shore Line members pay only $10.00. Add $3.00 for postage to a U.S. address.
