Streetcar 111th and Western - Who Knew?

Thanks to Jon Habermass for sharing on the Facebook page

J‎EMPEHI ALUMNI 1954-1979

Since the group will be meeting near this intersection of 111th and Western I thought I would share what it looked like while I was still in elementary school (Clissold, 110th and Western) and the streetcars were still running to the far southside...this view is looking south on Western and shows the end of the Western Avenue carline at 111th and Western. 

The streetcar in the background is eastbound on 111th having just left its' terminal at Sacramento. The 111th streetcars were part of the Halsted carline and will travel east on 111th to Hale and then turn onto Monterey to reach Vincennes were it will turn north eventually actually reaching Halsted at 85th Street. By the time I got to Morgan Park the streetcars were gone and after a graduated the next year (1958) a streetcar made it last trip in Chicago.

• Christine Leo, Liz Wynne Spence, Charles Robert Horne and 5 others like this.
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  Liz Wynne Spence Thank you !

  3 hrs · Like
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  Christine Leo Love this!!

  3 hrs · Like
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  Jan Newlin Hauber Wonderful, thanks for sharing all the info along with the pic.

  2 hrs · Like
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  Craig Harlan Hullinger Thanks for sharing. I will put this on our bloghttp://empehi.com

Chicago once had one of the world’s largest streetcar systems, more than 500 miles of line on nearly 100 routes by 1935. Horsecar service began in 1859, and was supplanted in the 1880s by a large network of cable car lines. In the 1890s, electric “trolleys” proved more efficient and the cable cars were replaced by 1906. Beginning in 1914, the various companies holding franchises for different parts of the city operated as a single system known as Chicago Surface Lines. More than 3,700 large red streetcars plied the city’s streets by 1935, and 680 new streamlined green PCC cars began arriving after World War II. The new public agency Chicago Transit Authority took over the streetcar system in 1947 and began to integrate the surface lines with the city’s elevated train network. In the 1950s, CTA decided to phase out streetcars in favor of motor and electric trolley buses, and Chicago’s last streetcar ran in June 1958. TO LEARN MORE:A fact sheet from Shore Line Interurban Historical Society Street Railways, an entry from the Encyclopedia of Chicago Bill Vandervoort's Chicago Surface Lines pages These books (both out of print) offer more details: Lind, Alan R. Chicago Surface Lines: An Illustrated History Johnson, James D. A Century of Chicago Streetcars This map dates from 1937, the peak year for track mileage: