Founding Companies

In "1863, three corporations dominated Chicago’s streetway for the remainder of the century: City Railway serving the south side, West Division operating on the city’s west side, and North Chicago controlling the north side." (Young, 1998, p.37)

"Just like the railroads, new street railways were forced early on to adopt incorporated
joint-stock companies to finance the required up-front investment of $1,000 or more per mile to lay down tracks. (Young, 1998, p. 30)" Source

These corporations were setup mostly by other railroad companies and local investors. Not much hassle was in the way for them to lay down rail and connect the city. We are still using some of the same lines they setup starting in 1863.

Chicago Elevated Rail Lines started elevating the rail lines starting in the late 1800s around the time of the Columbian Exposition.