North Chicago Street Railroad Company
On February 14, 1859, the North Chicago City Railway Company was incorporated. It was acquired by the newly incorporated North Chicago Street Railroad on Monday, May 24, 1886. The surviving North Chicago Street Railroad was acquired by Chicago Union Traction Company in 1899. The Chicago Union Traction Company was acquired in 1908 by Chicago Railways Company. In 1913, all of Chicago's street railway companies were combined into the Chicago Surface Lines.
North Chicago Street Railroad Company History
Incorporation of the North Chicago Street Railroad Company—Tuesday, May 18, 1886.
On Tuesday, May 18, 1886, Charles Tyson Yerkes, Jr. incorporated the North Chicago Street Railroad Company,
On Monday, May 24, 1886, the North Chicago City Railway Company had in operation 44.774 miles of track (one mile of double-track road being counted as two miles of track).
On Monday, May 24, 1886, the North Chicago City Railway Company entered into an operating agreement with the North Chicago Street Railroad Company, by the terms of which it surrendered control of its property for the period of 999 years.
The motive for this act is set forth in the preamble to the agreement, a part of which is as follows:
WHEREAS, there is a growing demand upon North Chicago City Railway Company by the public for improved motive power, extensions of new lines, and other improvements in connection with its plant and lines of street railway now owned, or leased by it; and
WHEREAS, the said North Chicago City Railway Company is without the facilities for constructing and operating to the best advantage such improved motive power, and purposes to make a contract with some party who has faith that the contemplated improvements will be profitable and who has the facilities for making them; and
WHEREAS, the said North Chicago City Railway Company has been in negotiation with said North Chicago Street Railroad Company with the view of coming to some understanding that would be mutually satisfactory, upon which the said North Chicago Street Railroad Company would contract to construct and put in operation the improved motive power and otherwise extend and improve the plant and lines of said North Chicago City Railway Company, and have agreed upon the terms and conditions hereafter set forth; and
WHEREAS, the said North Chicago City Railway Company has accepted said terms and has requested that the said North Chicago Street Railroad Company furnish for it the appliances' necessary for such new motive power, and to operate the same, and also from time to time, when feasible and desirable, to make such extensions and other improvements as the public may require, and be approved by the Boards of Directors of said companies, it being understood that a part of the lines of said North Chicago Street Railroad Company shall be cabled within the time hereafter named, and the balance from time to time, as may be directed in the manner aforesaid, and to insure the proper operation of the cable portion, the whole line must be put in exclusive charge of the North Chicago Street Railroad Company.
On Monday, May 24, 1886, Charles Tyson Yerkes, Jr. secured the execution of a lease between the North Chicago City Railway Company, as lessor, and the North Chicago Street Railroad Company as lessee, by which the North Chicago City Railway Company conveyed to the North Chicago Street Railroad Company, for the full term of 999 years, its entire property, franchises and rights, all and singular its railroad property, real, personal and mixed, contract rights, ordinance rights, franchises and privileges, of every name, nature and description, except only its right to be and exist as a corporation.
The terms referred to as having been agreed upon were, in brief, as follows: "In consideration of mutual promises, and of the sum of one dollar by each to the other respectively paid, * * * [the parties concerned] * * * do covenant, promise and agree to stand with each other, as follows:"
1. Agreement to continue for 999 years " * * * and during said term shall bind the parties without any right in either company to revoke the same without the written consent of the other."
2. The North Chicago Street Railroad Company to construct, with reasonable speed, a cable road on North Clark Street, " * * * commencing at some convenient point near the North end of the Bridge crossing the Chicago River, to a point near Diversey Street in the City of Lake View," the same to be completed within two years after permission from the city and town authorities is granted " * * * and for the purpose of perpetuating reliable evidence to be used in an equitable adjustment between the parties hereto in case this contract shall be terminated in any manner as hereinafter set forth, it must keep an accurate account of its expenditures in and about said improvements, charging therefor the actual cost thereof, * * * ."
"The railway company will execute and deliver a mortgage of its franchises and property to secure the payment of all amounts and interest thereon at the rate of 6% per annum, payable. semiannually, which shall be expended by the said railroad company in such construction, or the making of the improvements and extensions herein provided for. The amount so expended, with the interest thereon, as before provided, shall, in the event of the termination of this agreement by the parties hereto, or otherwise, or by reason of the intervention of any court of competent jurisdiction, at once become due and payable, and, if the amount found to be due shall not be paid, the said mortgage may be immediately foreclosed."
3. The North Chicago Street Railroad Company is required to construct and operate such cable road as is necessary " * * * other than above provided for * * [but] * * such additional construction shall only be with the assent of both of the parties * * [or] * * as shall be mutually agreed upon from time to time."
"Such additional improvements shall be constructed by said railroad company, and be paid for, and be secured for the repayment thereof by railway company in the manner heretofore provided for as to that portion of said railway on North Clark Street, between the bridge and Diversey Street, or at the option of said railroad company, it shall have the right to require said railway company to issue its bonds for the amount of any such expenditures in the form, when due, and bearing such rate of interest as said railroad company may require, and to be secured by mortgage on all, or a part, of the property of said railway company."
4. It is expressly stipulated that the North Chicago Street Railroad Company " * * * will hereafter supply, at its own cost and charge, such cars, harness and horses as shall be necessary in addition to those now owned by the railway company, * * [and] * * the same thus supplied shall be the property of the railroad company."
5. "Betterments shall be made and constructed by the railroad company as the same shall be agreed upon hereafter by the parties hereto. The cost of the same shall be paid to the railroad company in the manner heretofore provided in the case of construction of cables and motors. Within the term 'betterments' shall be comprised all construction, other than the Clark Street line and other improvements which the railroad company has agreed to do in connection therewith and replacements, such as extension of railways, new buildings and alterations and improvements of existing railways and buildings."
6. An appraisement of all the personal property of the North Chicago City Railway Company is provided for, the North Chicago Street Railroad Company to be permitted " * * * to use the same or their proceeds without charge * * [but] * * in case of the termination of this contract for any cause, the railroad company shall pay to the railway company the amount of said appraisement with interest only from the time of such termination."
As an offset, any property of the same character owned by the North Chicago Street Railroad Company that may be in use on the North Chicago City Railway Company's road at the time of the termination of the agreement must likewise be appraised and its value may be set off against the claim of the North Chicago City Railway Company.
7. Quarter-annually, commencing July 1st, 1886, the North Chicago Street Railroad stipulates to pay the other company $37,500, also the interest on all bonds and mortgages of the "railway company" then outstanding "and which may hereafter be created in the renewal and extension thereof, and all which may hereafter be created for the betterments and new constructions heretofore provided for * * * It is further stipulated that " * * * as soon as the cable to be constructed on North Clark Street, as herein provided, is completed, the railroad company shall pay to the railway company out of its own funds $500,000 in cash, or, at its own option, in lieu thereof the same amount in the shares of its capital stock, assessments paid * * * ."
On May 24, 1886, the North Chicago Street Railroad Company entered into a contract with the United States Construction Company " * * * to construct and put in operation a cable line on Clark Street from at or near Kinzie street to the Limits Barn in Lake View." The United States Construction Company was also to secure for the railroad company the right to lay tracks on La Salle Street and Avenue between Illinois and Jackson streets, and on Illinois between Clark and Wells streets, and through the La Salle Street Tunnel. No particular reference was made to a cable line on Wells Street, nor to the loop line on Monroe Street, Dearborn Street, and Randolph Street, nor to the purchase of any land upon which to erect power houses. All of these matters seem to have been left to the judgment of the Construction company. Even the consideration to be paid the Construction company is uncertain, except that " * * * not less than $4,500,000, payable in the stock of the said company * * [is named] * * provided the length of said North Chicago Street Railroad Company does not exceed 15 miles."
Under this contract 5.958 miles single track horse road on North Clark Street, from Wells Street to Diversey Street,were converted into cable road and likewise 3.543 miles single track on Wells Street from Illinois to the junction of Wells Street and North Clark Street. The only cable line specifically referred to in the lease of May 24, 1886, was that to be constructed on North Clark Street, and whatever expense the North Chicago Street Railroad Company might incur in its construction was to be a charge against the North Chicago City Railway Company, to be liquidated only in the contingency of a termination of the lease at the end of or before the expiration of 999 years. In the event of any other cable road being constructed (the lease providing that this only could be done by mutual agreement), it was optional with the North Chicago Street Railroad Company to carry the expense as a charge against the lessor company, the same as in the case of the North Clark Street line, or it could require the lessor company to increase its outstanding bonded indebtedness to the extent of the sum expended for construction and deliver the new bonds to the lessee company by way of reimbursement for its expenditures. In either case, however, the lease stipulated that " * * * for the purpose of perpetuating reliable evidence to be used in an equitable adjustment between the parties hereto * * an accurate account of the expenditures must be kept and into that account only must be charged" * * the actual cost of the improvements * * * ."
Photos
RPWRHS photo C043-05464 shows North Chicago Street Railroad Company horsecar number 8 in 1912. This single-end, single truck horsecar was built by the John Stephenson Car Company in 1859. It could seat 18 passengers. It was completely rebuilt in 1934 for the Century of Progress World’s Fair by the Chicago Surface Lines and has been displayed at various parades and official anniversaries. It is the oldest car on display at the Illinois Railway Museum where it arrived in 1985.