EAST TROY, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the East Troy Electric Railroad Historic District on the State Register of Historic Places. The district extends 7.2 miles from the Village of East Troy to the Village of Mukwonago (Walworth and Waukesha Counties). Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Amy Wyatt presented the State Register certification to Steve Thomas and Kurt Garner.
The East Troy Electric Railroad Historic District is a rail corridor that extends approximately seven miles from East Troy to Mukwonago. The district is locally significant, featuring resources related to the operation of the East Troy Electric Railroad. The resources include a substation, maintenance sheds, monuments, switch stands, repair and storage barns, power lines, culverts, and a stock of rail cars, locomotives and maintenance cars associated with the railroad or its parent company, the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company. The East Troy Electric Railroad was an active line that operated from 1906 to 1972. This corridor was part of a transportation network that provided passenger and freight services throughout southeast Wisconsin.
By 1970, rail transportation declined considerably. In 1971, the Wisconsin Electric Railway Historical Society entered an agreement with the Village of East Troy to provide short excursions, which began the following year. In 1995, Friends of the East Troy Railroad purchased this corridor from the Village of East Troy, after the East Troy Railroad Museum relocated to the depot. This corridor remains an active electric rail line today. It is one of very few extant electric rail systems in the Midwest, is the last section of operational electric rail line in Wisconsin and hosts a large number of restored rolling stock in active use by the museum.
Additional information for the East Troy Electric Railroad Historic District is available at: https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2852
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS15299
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.
