About Our Logo

The Edgewater trolley which has become the official logo for the Edgewater Historical Society was taken from one of John L. Cochran’s ads for Edgewater homes. The ad promises introduction of this electric marvel in 1893.

The founder of Edgewater planned his new suburb carefully, providing for local as well as downtown transportation. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad provided the downtown connection at ground level when Cochran began developing Edgewater.

The well-known streetcar barn on Broadway north of Ardmore was built by Cochran to house and service the local electric cars. As the city developed, the Ardmore/Broadway corner continued as a transfer point for trolley cars.

Now that the trolleys are gone, our adopted logo is a reminder of the past, but also of the forward thinking and planning that went into the development of Edgewater and its local transportation system. EHS likewise seeks to preserve the past but also, in the Cochran tradition, plans for the future by documenting the trolley tracks in time of today’s present.