Kenosha County Bike Trail - Pike River Bridge

In 1891, the Waukegan & North Shore Rapid Transit Company (W&NSRT) constructed a seven mile streetcar system through Waukegan and north Chicago.  The line was reorganized as the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company (C&ME) in 1898, and the line extended to Highland Park that year.  An additional 10 mile extension was completed in 1899, reaching Evanston.  At Evanston, passengers could transfer to a steam railroad operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway to reach Chicago.  Between North Chicago and Evanston, the line mainly paralleled the Chicago & North Western Railway mainline.  Between 1902 and 1904, the Libertyville Division was completed between Lake Bluff and Libertyville, and the branch extended further to Mundelein in 1905.  Construction on an extension to Zion was completed in 1905, followed by an extension to Racine, Wisconsin in 1906 and to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1908.  During the initial construction, much of the route was constructed with two tracks.  Later arrangements were made for the C&ME to operate on the Milwaukee Road line into Chicago.

In 1916, the C&ME was acquired by the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway (CNS&M).  The CNS&M had acquired a moderate sized electric railroad system, connecting several major cities along Lake Michigan.  This line became the Lake Shore Route, and was the mainline of the CNS&M until the Skokie Valley Route was completed in the mid-1920s.  After financial difficulties in the 1930s, the railroad was modernized in the 1940s.  During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the electric railroads began to decline, particularly due to the advent of the personal automobile. Bus service slowly began to replace the railroad service, and the lines would be abandoned in 1955.  Today, much of the Shore Line Route and the Libertyville Division is now utilized by a trail.