Friday, December 8, 2017

The History of the Edgewater Golf Club in Chicago, Illinois.

Born out of an elitist North Shore sensibility, the tumultuous transformation of the Edgewater Golf Club into the democratic Warren Park reveals much about the complicated process of real estate development in Chicago. Once the site of society dinners, debutante balls, and gentlemanly privilege, Edgewater Golf Club became a hotly contested space where a game of “political football” involving various levels of city and state government, community organizations, and private developers was played out. When the smoke cleared, a case of bribery cost an alderman his job, but North Side residents won ninety acres of hard-fought parkland.
A 1938 orthogonal aerial image of Edgewater Golf Club. The three-way intersection at the top right of the image is Ridge, Pratt, and Damen. Greenhouses are the three linear, rectangular structures near this intersection that appear out of place. The clubhouse is also located near this intersection at 2057 W. Pratt Avenue, Chicago.
One of the earliest golf courses within city limits, Edgewater Golf Club, was established in 1896 and sited on a strip of land west of Broadway between Foster and Balmoral.

This first course consisted of a mere five holes, and when additional land could not be acquired for expansion, the club moved north a year later to a swath of land bounded by Sheridan, Loyola, Albion, and Lakewood. Although the club was only located in Edgewater for its first year, the name was retained until its dissolution in 1968.

The second course was nine holes in length, and expansion was again the issue in 1910 when the club acquired eighty-eight acres farther west at Ridge and Pratt. This tract was purchased from sixteen different owners for a total of $125,500 ($3,279,700 in 2017), and the old property was sold to a developer five days later for $50,000 ($1,306,650 in 2017).
The proposed clubhouse designed by Holabird & Roche was never built.
The new course at Ridge and Pratt, designed by prolific landscape architect Thomas Bendelow, opened in June 1911. It was a straightforward, economical design with no doglegs, ponds, or other funny stuff, squeezing eighteen holes into the given acreage. Holabird & Roche submitted plans for a palatial Italian Renaissance revival-style clubhouse but those plans were not carried through. The firm of Hill & Woltersdorf was employed instead, perhaps to avoid a conflict of interest as Holabird was a member of the club, but more likely because Hill & Woltersdorf charged less.
In 1913, a stunning prairie-influenced Tudor Revival clubhouse was completed at 2045 W. Pratt Boulevard.
The clubhouse that was built was smaller in scale and laid out in an I-formation consisting of two two-story rectangular segments on each end. Although chintzy in contrast to the Holabird design, the Tudor Revival style employed better reflected the conservative Anglo-American background of much of the club’s membership.

As soon as it opened, Edgewater Golf Club was a magnet for real estate development in the West Ridge community. In 1910, urban-form residential development ceased at Ridge Road, immediately beyond which were primarily greenhouses. The earliest development influenced by the golf course was five houses immediately north of the clubhouse on Pratt Avenue, built between 1912-14 by members of the club, including then-president William J. MacDonald. This section of Pratt, located between Seeley and Oakley, developed slowly compared to the surrounding area. Of the nineteen houses eventually constructed along this stretch, ten dates to the 1910s, and the remaining nine were built between 1920-49. Until this section of Pratt was widened during the construction of Warren Park in the late 1970s, it was a narrow, private thoroughfare serving this relatively exclusive development. Laurence Warren described it as “only a half street.”

The golf course's presence impacted residential development on the North Side beyond a few country club estates. The year the club purchased the new land, McGuire & Orr subdivided the area northwest of the club, perhaps anticipating demand. This subdivision, the Ridge Boulevard addition, led to the construction of the first sewer built west of Ridge Road to drain into the North Shore Channel. In 1912, builders Cochran & McGluer were advertising an apartment building located at Broadway and Kenmore as being “fifteen minutes from Edgewater Golf Club.” The developer responsible for Edgewater Golf Club itself, William Ludwig Wallen, was active in areas both east and west of the Club, most notably the area around Clark and the street bearing his name. Henry Schoolcraft’s 1922 Arthur Avenue Addition, located directly south of the Club bounded by Western, Devon, and Damen, prominently touted close proximity to the club in advertisements. The practice of listing Edgewater Golf Club as an amenity persisted in the marketing of surrounding residential developments into the mid-1960s.
A 1925 advertisement for real estate bonds for the Edgewater Golfview
Apartments are still extant at the corner of Arthur and Leavitt.
Proximity to the golf course is a primary selling point.
Edgewater Golf Club had an early history of transience which almost continued into the 1920s. In 1923, the club purchased a 175-acre tract of land in Glenview for around $160,000 ($2,291,940 in 2017). Adjusting for inflation, this amounted to around $90,000 in 1910, meaning that the club paid 40% less for twice as much land in Glenview. This time the club was not buying and selling at a loss. Much had changed in the real estate market over thirteen years, and by 1923, the value of the Pratt and Ridge tract had escalated to nearly $615,000 ($8,809,632 in 2017). While the club could have made a huge profit by moving to Glenview at that time, three months after it was purchased, that land was sold to the North Shore Country Club.

Although little interest apparently happened at Edgewater Golf Club between 1923 and 1953 other than the usual “society notes” twaddle and much ado about Chick Evans, the Glenview affair points to a common issue with urban golf courses. By economic necessity, golf courses are built at the fringes of urban areas where land is cheap and plentiful. In turn, they incite residential demand, driving up property values. The invisible hand exerts pressure on the owners of the course until the price becomes too great to resist. Either the golf club dissolves and fades into memory, or it is rebuilt at the current urban fringe, where the process repeats itself. In 1926, then-president Judge Dennis E. Sullivan told the Edgewater club members, “the club and its property will not be sold... real estate agents are hereby warned to keep off.” Ultimately, his advice was not heeded.

Edgewater Golf Club had long been sought after for development when an offer was made in 1953 by an unnamed firm to purchase the land for $900,000 ($8,202,800 in 2017). The plan called for high-rise apartments on the site, but the membership rejected the sale. Another proposition was made in 1964 by the Sturm-Bickel Corporation, which would have involved exchanging the Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Niles and $800,000 ($6,291,750 in 2017) for Edgewater’s land, but this was also rejected.

The membership finally voted to sell the club to the Kenroy Realtors and developer Jupiter Corporation in 1965 for $7.6 million ($54,132,552 in 2017), giving the developers a November 1, 1967 deadline to come up with the money. There was an immediate backlash from community organizations, first the Nortown Civic Council and later the Allied Northside Community Organization led by Laurence Warren. Community concerns were primarily related to overcrowding and congestion. 50th Ward Alderman Jack Sperling quickly sided with community opposition, introducing a resolution calling for the city to purchase the land for use as a park.

The developers failed to deliver the purchase price when the deadline rolled around. Sperling and 49th Ward Alderman Paul Wigoda introduced a resolution that passed November 1, 1967, downzoning the park from R4 to R2, effectively disrupting the developers’ plan to build high-rises and making the purchase price un-economical for single-family housing. However, this action activated a condition in Kenroy’s contract with Edgewater Golf Club, giving them a year extension to come up with the money to purchase the property. As a result of the zoning change, Jupiter Corporation pulled out of the deal, leaving Kenroy as the primary buyer.

The sale was successfully completed a year later, in November 1968. Solomon Cordwell Buenz was hired to design the development, producing something very similar to Sandburg Village. Designed to house 8,900 people, the plan for “Edgewater Village” called for 3870 units; 1408 rentals, 192 efficiencies, 528 two-bedrooms, 2328 condominiums, and 134 townhouses. These were to be clustered around “pedestrian precinct malls,” each containing 1000 apartments with underground parking, retail, play areas, and swimming pools. Each of the three malls would have one building of twenty stories and five of nine stories. Also included in the plans was a shopping area with parking, a public school, and restaurants. The clubhouse would have been converted into a public restaurant and a private health club.

The Chicago Plan Commission and the Planning and Development Commission both approved the plan initially, and Sperling’s earlier resolution was repealed. The golf course was then rezoned to a planned development site. However, Mayor Richard J. Daley soon began urging the attorney general and Governor Ogilvie to acquire the land. Kenroy then filed a suit to compel the Building Commissioner to issue a construction permit. The circuit court ruling forced the city to grant a permit; however, in a resolution introduced by Daley, the city council repealed the zoning change allowing for planned development, and the Building Commissioner refused to grant a permit.

The State of Illinois began to take action on the matter earlier in 1969 when the House Conservation and Water Resources Committee passed a bill calling for the purchase of the golf club as a state park. The bill, allocating $950,000 ($6,317,500 in 2017) towards the purchase of the land, passed the House and Senate in June 1969, and Governor Ogilvie signed off three months later. The governor was criticized for the delay by Daley and Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon. The governor, in turn, suggested that powerful alderman Thomas Keane “had a piece in the action.” The State offered $8 million to Kenroy for the land, but the company raised the asking price to $35 million. Negotiations between the state and Kenroy broke down, and the state filed a condemnation suit in February 1970. However, a compromise was reached when it became clear the state would likely not be able to afford a price set by a jury. The western two-thirds of the property was then sold to the state for $8 million in the summer of 1970, financed through federal grants.
A 1971 proposal for the design of Warren State Park. The sections south and east of the park labeled “future commercial” and “future hi-rise townhouses” were sold to the Chicago Park District in 1974. Albion and Hamilton streets would have been cut through the property. This design was criticized as being cluttered, and the Allied Northside Community Organization lobbied the city to acquire the remaining land.
Kenroy retained thirty-two acres, ostensibly with the intention of constructing a high-rise complex. The Allied Northside Community Organization wanted the entire property as open space and continued to lobby the mayor and park district to purchase the remainder. In 1972, the park district offered $6 million, but just as he did with the state, Kenroy raised his asking price to $12 million. After the state turned the park over to the park district, the Chicago Public Building Commission bought the remainder of the property through condemnation proceedings on behalf of the park district in 1974 for $10.3 million.

When Governor Ogilvie accused Alderman Keane of having “a piece in the action,” he was almost correct. He just suspected the wrong alderman. In April 1974, 49th Ward Alderman Paul Wigoda was indicted for accepting a $50,000 bribe from Kenroy for the rezoning of the Edgewater property from R4 to a planned development site. The rezoning was used at first to activate a clause in Kenroy’s contract with Edgewater Golf Club so that they would have additional time to come up with the total purchase price. Also, the rezoning sought by the developers increased the value of the land, allowing Kenroy to effectively defraud the state and the Public Building Commission. The Public Building Commission purchased the land only two months before Wigoda’s indictment. The park district subsequently sued Kenroy for $15 million in damages, but the case dragged on until 1982, and it remains unclear whether or not any money was recovered.

The years of litigation between the final sale of the property in 1968 and the first phase of construction of Warren Park in 1977 saw the property slip into disrepair. The clubhouse remained shuttered and abandoned, dead trees were left untended, and trash and debris were strewn around. The state installed basic fixtures like picnic tables, and barbeque stands, but the park was for the most part unstructured.
Warren Park, Chicago
In spite of its condition, the park was well-used by area residents at the time the park district began construction. Numerous recreational facilities were installed, including a nine-hole golf course, skating rink, bicycle trail, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and a toboggan hill.

In the novel "Crossing California," Adam Langer describes the condition of the park in late 1979: “Once an exclusive country club, it was now a vast expanse of overgrown grass, of cracked tennis courts, muddy soccer fields, rusted charcoal grills, and one toboggan hill, a former garbage heap now known to the kids in the neighborhood as Mt. Warren.” Warren Park has been greatly improved since that time. Although long in coming, Laurence Warren and the Allied Northside Community Organization showed great foresight in fighting to retain the golf club as an open space.

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I have personally heard from many people that lived in the West Ridge and the Rogers Park communities of Chicago and either tried to join the Edgewater Golf Club or applied to be a golf Caddy but were rejected for being Jewish. Personally, I was born, raised and lived for 40+ years just 4 blocks away from the Edgewater Golf Club, but I had no interest in golf and did not know the club was Anti-Semitic. 

by Serhii Chrucky
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Real Story about the Famous "Elliott's Pine Log Restaurant and Lounge" in Skokie, Illinois.

Elliott's Pine Log Restaurant and Lounge were located, hidden among the trees, at 7545 Skokie Boulevard (Skokie Boulevard is Cicero Avenue in Chicago) at the intersection of Howard Street, Lincoln Avenue, and Skokie Boulevard in Skokie, Illinois.
Chris Elliott purchased the property in 1938 for $38,000. The logs were shipped from Wisconsin, and the restaurant was completed and opened in 1939 at the end of the great depression.

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The rumor of Elliott's Pine Log being a speakeasy is addressed at the end of this article.

Chris Elliott
The pine log building was nestled on three wooded acres that are beautiful in any season. No matter which of the four dining rooms you were seated in, you had picturesque and relaxing view of the outdoors through huge picture windows.

It was hard to believe you were in Skokie as it felt more like you were in a Wisconsin country inn or a Swiss Alps Chalet. 
Natural wood paneling, different in each dining room, heavy beams on the ceilings, and wood-burning fireplaces added to the rustic look of Elliott's. Inside the large waiting room with its natural wood-burning fireplace were comfortable sofas and overstuffed chairs, where you would wait for your table to be readied. 

Adjacent was the "Keyhole Bar," with a sunken cocktail lounge and raised wood-burning hearth. On Friday and Saturday nights, a piano player would play your requests.
Chris built apartments above the restaurant for his parents to live in. Sometimes the kitchen help would use the flats to rest and then go back on shift.
Elliott's Pine Log Restaurant had the best-roasted duck I ordered every time I ate there. The photo is a visual aid.
Elliott's specialties included; Roasted Duck, Broiled Aged Steak, and Fresh Dressed Chicken, among other great dishes. They hosted many Banquets, Showers, Wedding Parties, Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, and company parties and meetings.
Elliott's survived the November 9, 1955 fire that gutted the inside and injured two firefighters, Fred Albrecht and Warren Redik, who suffered superficial burns about the hands and face when they fell through the first floor. Skokie Fire Chief estimated the damage at $100,000 and said the fire, of undetermined cause, started in the basement. 

As it turns out, the total loss was $250,000. Chris Elliott told the Skokie News, "I don't know who released the earlier estimates of damages, 'around $100,000,' but I know that whoever it was never had the pleasure of eating in my restaurant." Fireman Jerome Burke and Robert Kutz received awards for saving two firemen at the Elliot's Pine Log Restaurant fire in 1956.
Mr. Anthony' Tony' Gargano, the restaurant's manager, was a patient of my father, an Optometrist (O.D.). Tony always found the time to sit with us for a minute. 

As the neighborhood changed in the 1980s, business dropped off, and the Pine Log was closed. A public auction was held of all the restaurant's equipment, fixtures, antiques, collectibles, seating, etc., in Chicago on June 25, 1988.
Classified Ad, Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1988
To this day, I compare my fond memories of Elliott's roasted duck to every other roasted duck dish I have ordered since. Still, to this day — None Better!

Construction of two mid-rise condominium buildings on Pine Log's property began in August 1988. The Park Lincoln, as it was named, has 70 units.

Both Alex Elliott and Greg Elliott were Chefs at Elliott's Pine Log.

ALEX ELLIOTT
After the Pine Log closed in 1988, Alex Elliott, Chris Elliott's son, did some restaurant consulting, turned down a lot of offers to partner in restaurants, and continued to raise Black Angus cattle at the family home/farm in tiny Ringwood, Illinois, near Wonder Lake, until moving closer to Chicago.
Elliott's Seafood Grille & Chop House, 6690 North Northwest Highway, Chicago


But the restaurant business is like a narcotic. Alex decided to get back into that precarious racket, opening "Elliott's Seafood Grille & Chop House," 6690 North Northwest Highway, in the heart of Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood, in 2001. "I did not do this to become a millionaire," Alex says. "I wanted the place no more than 15 minutes from where I live and only wanted to make dinners. I wanted an upscale neighborhood place where I could enjoy the customers." That is what he created, a charming spot, sophisticated and laid back. The bar business is steady and lively, and the dinner crowd is a nice mix of ages and occasions. 

GREG ELLIOTT
A message from Chris Elliott-Bagley: "Hi Neil. Yes, Greg Elliott is my first cousin."
In 1991, Greg Elliott reopened Lake Side Inn as Elliott's Grand Hotel in Wauconda. He says the building was "slipping into the lake when he bought the hotel." Highland Park architect Mark Knauer was hired to recreate the interior, taking everything out except the bar and making the building structurally sound. He hasn't had that restaurant for years. 
In 1996 he and his wife opened a Consignment Shop in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood and the second shop in Lincoln Park.

WAS THE PINE LOG A SPEAKEASY?
As stated on numerous websites, the rumor of Elliott's Pine Log being a speakeasy is false. Prohibition began in 1920 and ended on December 5, 1933, but Elliott's Pine Log opened in 1939, six years after the end of the prohibition.

The "Morton House" Restaurant (est.1869) at 8509 Railroad Avenue in Morton Grove, Illinois, was reported to be a speakeasy during prohibition. Click the link to find out. This building was destroyed by fire in 1954." The Morton House was rebuilt.
The Original Morton House was destroyed by fire on January 2, 1954.
The Rebuilt Morton House.







Another speakeasy rumor circulated was about the Charcoal Oven Restaurant at 4400 Golf Road in Skokie. It couldn't have been a speakeasy because it opened in 1948, 15 years after prohibition ended.


Copyright © 2017  Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.



I loved the Pine Log so much that I recreated my favorite logo of Elliott's Pine Log Restaurant and Lounge. This is my personal 15oz mug. It's high-quality and heavy, and the printing doesn't wash off or fade, even after 5 years of dishwasher sterilization with high-heat drying. Many mug styles, colors, and other items are available.

A NOTE ABOUT THE ACCUSATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM
Nothing is further from the truth regarding the rumors of the Elliot brothers being anti-Semitic. About 80% of Pine Log's business IN JEWISH SKOKIE was, you guessed it, Jewish. I'm Jewish. My folks were Jewish and knew the Elliotts for a very long time. My family ate at the Pine Log once or twice a month and celebrated special occasions for over 20 years. They couldn't do enough to make our meal special, and I personally saw the wait staff treat others the same 5-STAR way. The Elliotts are a class act.

Jack Silverman wrote this comment in a Skokie, Illinois, Facebook group when I posted my article in that group:
 
A COMMENT POSTED TO SILVERMAN BY AN ELLIOTT FAMILY MEMBER:  
"If his aunt was asked to leave, it may be because of the way she was dressed. Elliott's had a dress code back then. She could have had too much to drink and was asked to leave because she was intoxicated. Perhaps she was embarrassed that she got asked to leave and played 'the Jew card.' But I can assure you that her getting booted, if true, had nothing to do with being Jewish!!!"  
Chris Elliott-Bagley, November 16, 2020. 

Monday, December 4, 2017

A North Shore Electric train rear-ends an Evanston Express at the Granville Avenue station in Chicago, on November 24, 1936. Eleven dead.

The 'L' became a source of tragedy one November early evening in 1936, when a north bound North Shore electric train smashed into the rear of a north bound Evanston Express train stopped north of Granville. Nine people died almost immediately and two died several days later. The total – 11 dead – resulted in it being the deadliest accident on the elevated system up to that time.

Here is the Chicago Tribune account printed in the newspaper on the 25th, the next day after this tragedy happened.

The wooden rear coach of the "L" train was completely telescoped by the steel North Shore car #721. Yes, that is the roof and side walls of the "L" car wrapped around the interurban car. Granville station is on the left.
The Evanston Express train was standing at a switch 50 feet north of the Granville avenue station of the elevated lines, a half block east of Broadway, in the Edgewater district.

The first steel car of the North Shore train plowed all the way through the wooden rear coach of the Evanston train, shearing off its roof and splintering it like a match box. It was the worst elevated lines accident in Chicago history.

All of the dead and all except one of the injured were in the wrecked wooden coach.

Both trains were on the east, or express track. The Evanston train, which switches over to the local tracks at this point in order to make a stop at Loyola avenue, was blocked at the switch by a northbound train on the local track.

Behind the Evanston train of eight cars came the three car North Shore Line train bound for Mundelein, which was scheduled to continue north on the express track and to pass the Evanston train after the latter switched over west to the local track.

Just north of the Granville station is a signal tower which regulates the switch.

The elevated tracks at this point are perfectly straight for a distance of a mile and a half to the south. It was pitch dark, but two red lights glimmered on the rear of the Evanston train. Its passengers, Homewood bound, noticed the train come to a halt for the switch and chafed at the delay.

Suddenly they heard a whistle scream behind them, then a terrifying crash as the North Shore Line train struck the rear coach.

This old wooden car had no chance. Crushed between the plowing steel coach behind and the steel coach just ahead of it in the Evanston train, the light wooden frame crumpled into sudden wreckage. Sides, seats and floor splintered into a myriad pieces.

The steel car from behind drove through and stopped only a few feet from the steel car ahead. The old wooden coach was shattered – part of its roof rested on the top of the car which struck it. The steel cars, except for broken windows, were almost undamaged.

The scene was instantly one of terror and confusion. Darkness cast a blanket over the shapeless mass of steel and wood splinters, twisted seats, shattered glass and, more shocking than all this, the 75 passengers thrown into huddles of screaming, moaning and desolately silent victims of a thousand hurts.

Residents of the neighborhood heard the whistle of the North Shore train, then the crash. They saw the passengers flung from the telescoped coach, saw them falling into the alley that runs along the east side of the tracks.

Edward Price, who lives in an apartment overlooking the elevated embankment at 6150 Winthrop avenue, was one of those first to reach the scene.

“The North Shore whistle sounded three of four times,” he said. “The train was moving at a lively clip and I could see it was going to crash into the Evanston train. I heard the screech of the brakes.”

“The North Shore train swayed back and forth as it slowed down. The lights went out. Just before the crash they came on again, then they went out. There were flames in the wreckage. I ran to the telephone and called the fire department. Then I ran downstairs as fast as I could. I found people lying in the alley. I helped to pull them to an adjoining automobile driveway.”

A curious footnote to human reactions in the presence of tragedy was added by Joseph Laculla, 17 years old, 1429 Thome Avenue, who sells newspapers under the elevated at Granville avenue. When he heard the crash he took out his watch. “It was exactly four minutes when the first fire apparatus got here,” he said. “The first police ambulance arrived nine minutes after the crash.”

With the arrival of police and firemen a great throng gathered at the scene. Private automobiles and trucks were commandeered to take the injured to the Edgewater, Swedish Covenant, Ravenswood, Rogers-Fost, Evanston and St. Francis hospitals.

Firemen raised ladders along the elevated embankment and carried injured passengers down. Others were carried along the tracks to the Granville station and down the steps there. When stretchers ran out the rescuers used seats from the wrecked car to carry the victims.

Police Commissioner Altman, notified of the tragedy, ordered all available police from north and northwest side stations to help in the rescue work and keep back the crowds.

There were more than 500 police at the scene, two companies of firemen, twenty police ambulances, and three fire department ambulances.

After all the injured had been removed to hospitals, police details were stationed at each of these to control the crowds which swarmed at the doors.

Among the first to reach the scene were three Catholic priests. They administered the last rites of the church to injured persons who appeared to be dying. The clergymen were the Very Reverend J.G. Kieley and the Rev. Thomas Doherty, of St. Gertrude’s church, and the Rev. Howard Ahern, a member of the faculty at De Paul university.

A story of the first rescue work came from William Biesel of Libertyville, who was riding in the first coach of the North Shore train, sitting with Champ Carry, vice-president of the Pullman company, who lives in Mundelein.

“We hardly felt the crash,” Biesel said, “but there was a tremendous noise. We climbed down onto the track, and saw a woman lying close to the third rail. Her skirt was beginning to burn. We pulled her away, beat out the flames and got her over to the station platform. Next we picked up two men. Both had been thrown all the way across the adjoining tracks.”

William Helm … an investment broker … said he was not surprised the accident had occurred.

“I have been taking the train almost regularly for a number of years,” he said. “Each evening a few moments after the express switches onto the local track the North Shore roars by on the express track. I have often thought that the timing of the two trains was too close for safety.”

NOTES
The North Shore Line, formally named the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Electric Railway, operated over the elevated into the loop from August 6, 1919, until January 21, 1963, when it abandoned operations. It operated a branch line west to Mundelein, but its main line was along the Skokie Valley line to Milwaukee. Its original line in Illinois, later called the “Shore Line,” went through the North Shore suburbs and generally paralleled the Chicago and North Western.

After the introduction of the Skokie Valley bypass in 1926, the original line was devoted to local service. It was abandoned first, in 1955. North Shore Line trains never stopped in Edgewater. However, Edgewater residents could board trains at either the Wilson or Howard ‘L’ station. Service was very frequent and express trains made the trip from downtown Chicago to downtown Milwaukee in two hours. Given the limited speed it could attain on the elevated south of Wilson and in running on the streets of Milwaukee, this was an impressive performance. There is still Evanston express service [the purple line], but now it is express all the way to Howard along the express tracks and does not stop at Loyola and Morse. 

By the Edgewater Historical Society.
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D.