HISTORY HIGHLIGHT

TOBIN ROAD WHISTLE STOP

The Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad, commonly known as the North Shore Line, began as a local streetcar

line in Waukegan in the 1890s, and would eventually become America’s fastest interurban passenger railway. The North Shore Line’s high-speed electric trains ran 90 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee.

In Pleasant Prairie, folks could catch the train at the Tobin Road (now 116th Street) whistle stop.

In 1937, rising boxing star Joe Louis was staying in Pleasant Prairie, about two miles from the Tobin Road whistle stop. According to local legend, Joe Louis would jog the two miles to the whistle stop and catch the North Shore Line to Kenosha, where he was training at the Lakefront Stadium. A few months later

Joe Louis would win the world heavyweight champion fight.