Central Street (Evanston, IL)
| Length | 24.02 mi (38.66 km) |
|---|---|
| West end | Barrington Road, South Barrington |
| East end | Sheridan Road, Evanston (1800 W) |
Central Street is the principal east-west artery in the far north of Evanston, Illinois and is a major thoroughfare in other northern and northwest suburbs of Chicago. It is the longest east-west road in the city of Evanston, where it stretches for over two miles (3 km) from the city limits west of Crawford Avenue to its eastern intersection with Sheridan Road near the historic Grosse Point Lighthouse. West of Evanston, the street begins at Barrington Road (26 miles west of State Street) in South Barrington and runs westward intermittently through various municipalities, where it is alternately known as Central Road, Central Parkway, and, along the Skokie/Wilmette border, Central Street. The street is located at 2600 N in the Evanston grid system and 10100 N in the Chicago grid system.
Central Street has a non-central location in Evanston; the name dates to when the street was the principal thoroughfare for the village of North Evanston, which was annexed to Evanston in 1874.
Central Street has been extensively served by mass transit for over a century. The Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad began service from Chicago to Waukegan in 1855. The Chicago and North Western Railway took over the line in 1866, and the Central Street station (at Green Bay Road) still stands today as a Metra stop on the Union Pacific/North Line.
An Evanston trolley system operated electric streetcars down Central Street from 1897 to 1935. Light rail service connecting the neighborhood with Chicago reached Central Street in 1908, when the right-of-way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, a would-be competitor of the CN&W, on tracks a half-mile east, was leased to a trolley company. Today the north-south line is operated by the CTA, which maintains a Central Street stop on the Purple Line. In rush hours there is express service to the Loop.
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Wikipedia