Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway

The Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway, or C&JE, was an electric interurban railway linking the cities of Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. It was the only interurban between those cities and provided a link between the streetcar network of Chicago and the cities along the Des Plaines River Valley in north central Illinois, which were served by the Illinois Valley Division of the Illinois Traction System.

The C&JE was an outgrowth of the Joliet streetcar system, which was acquired by the American Railways Company of Philadelphia at the start of the 20th century. In 1900 a line was built north from Joliet to Lemont, with an extension to Chicago opening in September 1901. The line ran along the DesPlaines River from downtown Joliet to the corner of Archer Avenue and Cicero Avenue on the edge of Chicago, with an across-the-platform connection with Chicago City Railway (Chicago Surface Lines after 1914) Archer Ave. streetcars.

A carbarn and transformer were built in Lyons Township (Bedford Park after 1940)) at Roberts Road, the railway's property behind it was sold for a large corn processing plant. “Argo” (annexed by Summit in 1911) had heavy traffic. Bethnia and Resurrection cemeteries and nearby restaurants attracted riders, and further west forest preserves were popular on the weekends.

To promote ridership on the south part of the line, the railway built an amusement park called Dellwood Park in Lockport. The park opened on July 4, 1905 at a cost to the railway of almost $300,000. Dellwood Park's carousel, boat rides, picnic areas and sulky races with a grandstand brought up to 15,000 visitors to the park on weekends in its peak years. It operated for more than thirty years; the park burned down in the 1930s.

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