David Clark Leach, Jr. (1925-2000) oral history: Wilmette Public Library Local History Collection

David Clark Leach, Jr. (1925-2000) oral history

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BM: Today is November 5, and I'm meeting with Mr. Leach to discuss Transportation in Wilmette. My name is Briggs Maselli and I'm interviewing Mr. Leach for the Wilmette Public Library Oral History Group. Mr. Leach would you give me your full name and where you live and your position with the village?
 
DL: David C. Leach, Jr., um, I've lived in the village...I was born here, and lived here since 1925. I'm director of management services for the Village of Wilmette.
 
BM: Mr. Leach, would you tell me what you've been able to gather about transportation in Wilmette?
 
DL: Well primarily the first transportation railroad that came through Wilmette was...actually the Illinois [indistinct] was organized to build a railroad along the lakeshore from Chicago to Milwaukee to link the two growing centers. And, uh, that went bankrupt and reorganized. The Chicago and Milwaukee railroad built the track through Wilmette in 1854. Whether it was single or double track we don't know. Ah it did not stop in Wilmette, nor was there hardly anybody here, just a few settlers. And the Milwaukee and Chicago railroad built south from Milwaukee and they met at the state line. And as was sort of the practice in those days each railroad in each state was a separate entity. They then finally hooked up I think it was early 1854 or something was the inaugural train, and there was a Judge Blodgett in, ah, Waugkegan who was instrumental in the Chicago Milwaukee railroad.
 
BM: Do you spell Blodgett B-L-O-D-G-E-T-T?
 
DL:.. T-T, Yeah. Actually, there's a freight stop on the back line that's named for him even today.
 
BM: In Wisconsin?
 
DL: No, on the back line... the freight line up there northwest Highland Park is sometimes referred to in the railroad as Blodgett
 
BM: Oh...
 
DL: ...that's the junction where the big freight line goes off to Proviso. And they started running trains and they stopped at Evanston and Winnetka in the original schedule. They did not stop at Wilmette 'cause there really wasn't anything here. Now the real estate dealers, or brokers, or whatever they were...syndicate...that started developing Wilmette...Westerfield and Dingy and all those old timers were... figured out they weren't gonna get a chance to sell anything if the trains didn't stop. So they got ahold of Judge Blodgett with the railroad and he ended up, supposedly, with roughly one seventh of the real estate holdings in Wilmette as part of the syndicate. He became a member of the syndicate. On the deal, primarily, if he got the railroad to stop if they built a depot. And they built a little wooden shack. And somewhere around 1869-1870 is the first time the train started stopping in Wilmette.
 
BM: Can I ask you a question? Why does the train run the wrong way? I mean it goes...
 
DL: The entire Northwestern system is entirely on the left-hand side...
 
BM: The entire Northwestern system?
 
DL: Yes the entire Northwestern system is left-handed. There's a good question about whether it was built left-handed or not which I'm trying to check out and figure out. Because the depots were on the west side of the track which would sorta indicate it was a right-handed operation. The Northwestern Railroad which came from the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, ah, when they first built in west Chicago had the depots...they built the depots so they built them on the north side of the track and when they came to double track well...we want the people who are waiting to go in to Chicago...besides at that time left and right wasn't that firm in this country in 1850's and ' 60's so they just built the track on the other way and ran a left-handed operation and it's continued ever since. And when they run double-track, they run left-handed. This...well, ...we know the first depot, which was this little shanty, which burned about a year or two later...we know exact dates. We know was on the left-hand. And then the depot which was built by subscription of the local people, which is the one still in existence over in the parking lot, was built also on the west side. Now whether the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, which was the original railroad, was left or right operation we don't know. But it was probably shifted, it wasn't until 1882 that they gained complete financial control. The Northwestern started operating it, or leasing it, about 1868 or so, and that was about the time Blodgett got the trains to stop here. But whether they were right-handed operation, my guess is they were a right-handed operation, and the left-handed operation came after the Northwestern took over the ownership of it. But that's a guess which I'm trying to check out. Ah, well, these people, as I say....

Creators:

Leach, David Clark, Jr., 1925-2000, Interviewee

Maselli, Briggs

, Interviewer

Miller, Karen

, Transcriber

Media Type:

Audio

Image

Text

Item Type:

Audiocassettes

Description:

Interview with David C. Leach, Jr. by Briggs Maselli in Wilmette, Illinois, on the subject of the history of transportation in Wilmette.

Notes:

Day of interview was November 5, but year not provided.

Place of Publication:

Wilmette, Illinois

Date of Original:

About 1980

Subject(s):

Mass transit
Oral histories
Railroads - United States

Language of Item:

English

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