Wounded by the increased use of automobiles after World War II, the CA&E abruptly ended passenger service in 1957.

The first known attempt to create an electric railway between the metropolis of Chicago and the Fox Valley settlement of Aurora was in late 1891.

However, the railroad was unable to secure additional funds; it failed to meet an 1893 construction deadline and effectively ceased operation thereafter.

A group led by F. Mahler, E. W. Moore, Henry A. Everett, Edward Dickinson, and Elmer Barrett formed independent railway lines that were projected to stretch from Aurora and Elgin to Chicago.

The Everett-Moore group was Ohio's largest interurban railroad company and had experience administrating several lines around Cleveland, most notably the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

They came to an agreement: Everett-Moore would build and maintain the railways connecting Aurora to Chicago while the Pomeroy-Mandelbaum group would control railways linking cities in the Fox River Valley (eventually consolidating as the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company [AE&FRE]).

The AE&C received permission to cross existing track lines in February 1902, alleviating one of the largest obstacles in the railway's construction.

The line completed a network of utility poles through the right-of-way, allowing communication and power exchange between electrical substations along the track in Aurora, Warrenville, and Lombard.

[8][9] The first inspection trip of the 34.5-mile (55.5 km) line was held on May 16, 1902. the train departed from 52nd Avenue to Aurora, then traversed the AE&FRE south to Yorkville then north to Dundee.

Creditors demanded pay, and the Everett-Moore group sold off several assets, including their shares of the railroad company totaling $200,000.

A Niles Car was pulled by a steam locomotive along the track to ensure that none of the curves were too sharp for the intended rolling stock.

Original plans called for the third rail to guide the car, but the company experienced many electrical problems along its power lines.

By the time the third rail was functioning properly, two hundred and fifty utility poles had burned to the ground due to faulty insulators.

Passengers who wanted to enter The Loop had to transfer to the Metropolitan West Side Elevated at 52nd Avenue for an additional five cents.

The new cars also allowed the railroad to operate at faster speeds—one run from 52nd Avenue to Aurora averaged 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).

[21][22] The 17.5-mile (28.2 km) branch split off from the main line at Wheaton, and allowed trains from Chicago to reach the Fox Valley city in sixty-five minutes.

When opened, the AE&C was able to change its schedules to allow trains to leave 52nd Avenue every fifteen minutes, alternating between Aurora and Elgin.

Notably, the AE&C reached a deal with the Chicago Record Herald in October 1903 to distribute the paper to the suburbs along the line.

[25] Beginning on March 11, 1905, the interurban began operating over the Metropolitan's "L" tracks, allowing AE&C trains to directly serve downtown Chicago.

[citation needed] However, the postwar years saw increasing shifts of passengers away from rail traffic and into automobiles, and then the CA&E found the rug pulled from beneath the railroad.

The plans for construction of the Congress Street Expressway (now known as the Eisenhower Expressway) in the early 1950s not only loomed as a source of further drain on CA&E traffic, but the right-of-way of the new highway necessitated the demolition of the CTA's Garfield Park elevated line, which the CA&E depended upon to reach its downtown terminus.

[citation needed] The expressway's construction plans provided a dedicated right-of-way for trains in the highway's median strip.

When the plans circulated in 1951, CA&E objected to the arrangement, citing the effects on running time and scheduling of its trains as they negotiated the streets of Chicago's busy West Side at rush hour.

[32] Instead, the replacement line would access the Loop through the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway, where wood-bodied cars, which still made up a good portion of CA&E rolling stock, were prohibited.

At the new Forest Park terminal, riders would transfer from the CA&E interurban to a CTA train to complete their commute into the city.

[33] Unfortunately, with the change being put into effect on September 20, 1953, CA&E riders lost their one-seat ride to downtown Chicago.

The railroad's financial condition was already shaky, and schemes to restore downtown service faced various legal or operational obstacles.

No trains ran after this point, but the right-of-way and rolling stock were preserved in the event that a party stepped forward to purchase the property.

The real estate became part of the Aurora Corporation of Illinois, a small conglomerate, which slowly sold off the right-of-way and other properties.

[39] Besides the right-of-way, most of which has been retained as the Illinois Prairie Path, there are two depots, two combination depot/substations, and 19 pieces of rolling stock from the CA&E that still exist.