History and Relics of the CA&E Electric Railway

During the first half of the 20th Century, communities from Chicago to the Fox River were linked together by one of the first and fastest electric interurban railways in the United States, the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin Railway, headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois.  Since that time, the former route of the Roarin’ Elgin has been transformed into the scenic and popular Illinois Prairie Path.   Please join Brian and Joyce Ostberg, creators of the BeHistoric YouTube channel, to learn about the railway’s history and to explore its many traces and remnants, still found all along the former trackway.

About the Presenters: 
Brian and Joyce Ostberg have lived and raised their family in DuPage County since 1985. Brian is a retired software engineering Director at AT&T Bell Labs, more recently Nokia, in Naperville. Joyce is a retired Molecular Biologist, having worked at Abbott Labs in North Chicago, before retiring to raise their family. Both she and Brian have an avid interest in history and prehistory and started their BeHistoric YouTube channel in 2020 so as to document their exploration of such topics in the Chicago region and throughout the US Midwest. They have used the Illinois Prairie Path, both for biking and hiking, in the past few decades or more.