Scope and Contents:
This collection includes 31 items relating to the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, an interurban rail line connecting Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along Lake Michigan. This rail line operated between 1916 and 1963. This collection is primarily composed of images that relate to bridges, construction plans, and trains.
The earliest version of the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad Company was organized in 1891. In 1916, the company was purchased by Samuel Insull who began reconstruction and expansion projects. This rail line ran from the Chicago Loop through to Milwaukee and was used as both a passenger and freight service. The railroad stopped operation in January of 1963 due to decreasing profits and low passenger rates.
This collection contains 31 items. These include photographs of the interior and exterior of trains, gas cars, substations, photographs of bridges and train tracks, and construction plans. Some of the photographs are labeled. The collection also contains two separate descriptive labels on passenger equipment and buses. Most of the items are from 1917 through 1924.
These materials were found in the Illinois Historical Survey Papers (MS 736) in October 2023. Previously they were contained in Sutton Box 7. Dr. Robert M. Sutton (1916-2005) served as director of the Illinois Historical Survey, a precursor to the Illinois History and Lincoln Collection, from 1964-1983.
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