The Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway was an interurban line that first ran in 1907, connecting its namesake towns. With the purchase of the connecting Rockford Interurban in 1927, the route was further extended beyond Belvidere to Rockford, and was renamed the Elgin, Belvidere and Rockford Railway.
Although never very profitable, the railroad succumbed to competition by the parallel Chicago and North Western Railroad, along with the opening of nearby US Route 20. The line ceased operation in 1930, and the line and equipment was scrapped a few years later.
Today, some of the route is still in use under the Illinois Railway Museum as a tourist operation; another segment of the route is now the Huntley-Union-Marengo rail-trail.