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General Discussion / Re: Chicago & West Ridge Railroad
« Last post by TBurke on May 12, 2021, 08:22:39 AM »
I have that book and overall it is interesting though it would have been nice to see it cover more of the suburbs along the North Branch farther up in the suburbs and the streams that disappeared as a result of residential development like Glenview Creek. I was fishing on the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River in Glenview a few years ago and I was struck by how clear and clean the water looked. As a boy growing up in Glenview it had an opaque, brownish/grey look to the water.
Since I'm posting in old threads.. Tom I didn't know you grew up in Glenview, I did too and it was all east of Wagner. '72 to '80 we lived on Juniper Rd. between Glenview Rd. and Wilmette Ave. The CNW rolling past a half block away was a regular feature and planted the rail fascination in me, for sure -- in addition to the old MILW spur to Hines/Rugens, of course. Anyway I had never heard of Glenview Creek, very interesting. In the early 80s my "gang" did occasionally visit a fun dirt bike "jump" that was just east of Laramie, a half block south of Glenview Rd..
There's another creek that I believe still flows - it started in the back yards of the houses northeast of Glenview & Wagner and crossed under the dead-end of Greenacres Lane before turning east where it flowed randomly above and below the surface, eventually emptying into the Middle Fork. I suppose I wouldn't know any of this if kids didn't spend all day outside, back then..
My family lived on Long Road on the very eastern edge of Glenview from '64-'71 then we moved to Glenview Road at Elm Street and lived there '71-'74 after which we moved to Barrington. While at Long Road I used to wander over and explore the former NSL track then operated by the C&NW. It was a different time for sure.
Glenview Creek from old maps I have seen used to originate in Wilmette on the east side of where the Edens Expressway is today, near Old Orchard Mall, then it ran west by southwest, crossing the NSL and C&NW tracks just south of Glenview Road, before heading SW through the Cunliff Park area. It finally crossed Harms Road by Old Orchard Road. It was buried sometime in the 1940s and put into a storm sewer from Laramie to Harms Road.
You can still see it where it is in the open again after it crosses under Harms Road and goes into the Chicago River. As a boy it ran in the open between the two railroad ROWs but when I was there a number of years ago the area was degraded from trash and invasive brush.
I remember that stream that ran along the northern edge of Wagner Farm. I had a friend who lived nearby and when I visited we explored it. I still recall grass clippings that had been dumped by it.
Another series of streams was in an area we called "Blueberry" south and southeast of where Rugen School (now Swenson Park) was which I later attended. It was east of Shermer Road but by the 1980s was obliterated by a new housing development. We used to ride our Sting Ray bikes over the dirt hills also at that site.
Yes, we all spent time outdoors back then. Bikes were very liberating.
I wrote an in-depth piece on the Milwaukee Road in Glenview a few years ago for The Milwaukee Railroader magazine. It includes pictures of the old Rugen store complex and local freight service. It is Issue 2 of 2015.
https://www.mrha.com/view-article-index.aspx
There have been so many threads I forgot your real first name. I am Tom Burke.
My personal email is tom.j.burke [at symbol] comcast.net.
Tom