The Chicago Surface Lines (CSL) was operator of the street railway system of Chicago, Illinois from the years 1913 to 1947. The firm is a predecessor of today's publically-owned operator, the Chicago Transit Authority. a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Quincy L Station serving the Brown Line, Purple Line and Orange Line The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), founded on October 1, 1947, provides bus and rail mass transit services to the citizens of Chicago and several of the citys inner suburbs. ...

History

The first streetcars in Chicago were horse cars run by the Chicago City Railway Company and the North Chicago City Railway Company around 1858-1861. This method was slow and expensive, and the companies began substituting cable cars in the 1880s. Chicago City was the first in [1881], and with the addition of the Chicago Passenger Railway ([1883]) and the West Chicago Street Railroad Company (1887), Chicago had the largest cable railway system in the world. Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

It was also in the 1880s that electric-powered "trolleys" first became practical. The Chicago companies hesitated at first to install these faster and more efficient systems because of their heavy investment in cable cars. But the smaller Illinois cities and the Calumet Electric Street Railway of the South Side built successful systems, causing the Chicago companies to feel themselves dropping behind. By the mid-1890s most of them had begun the conversion to electricity. This article is about light rail systems in general. ...

The 1890s saw the consolidation of many of the Chicago companies, and this reorganization continued into the next century. In 1905 the city voted that the surface railways should come under municipal ownership but not operation, provided that the companies rehabilitate their systems, and give the city the right to buy the property at a fixed value. In addition, new construction was to be approved by a new bureau, the Board of Traction Supervising Engineers. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

The continuous reorganization was finally completed by the Unification Ordinance of 1913 which stipulated that all lines would come under the management of a single operating company called the Chicago Surface Lines (CSL). Four companies formed the CSL: the Chicago Railways Company, Chicago City Railway, Calumet and South Chicago Railway, and Southern Street Railway. At this time Chicago had the largest street railway system, the longest one-fare ride, the longest average ride, and the most liberal transfer privileges in the world. 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

The 1920s saw continued growth despite the increasing competition from the automobile, the Depression dealt a heavy blow to traffic. By 1958 the Chicago Transit Authority, which took over the Chicago Surface Lines in 1947, had abandoned all but four lines in favor of buses. In 1958 these remaining lines were "bustituted". The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Quincy L Station serving the Brown Line, Purple Line and Orange Line The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), founded on October 1, 1947, provides bus and rail mass transit services to the citizens of Chicago and several of the citys inner suburbs. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Bustitution is sometimes used to name the practice of replacing train service, whether street railways (light rail or tram/streetcar systems) or full-size railway systems, with a bus service, either on a temporary or permanent basis. ...

External links

• Chicago Surface Line Drawings, 1886-1926 Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.