USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 39
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A railroad into the Hoeking Valley was projeeted as early as 1853 at a meeting in Lan- easter addressed by Joseph Sullivant, Wm. Neil and Wm. Dennison; but nothing was done till 1864, when M. M. Greene and others organized the Mineral Railroad Co., capital $1,500,000, to build a road from Athens to Columbus. When the stoek subseriptions had reached $830,000, the subseribers met, December 19, 1866, and elected the following directors: P. Hayden, G. M. Parsons, Wm. Dennison, B. E. Smith, W. G. Deshler, Thcodore Comstock, Isaac Eberly, D. Tallmadge, W. B. Brooks, J. C. Garrett, Wm. P. Cutler, E. H. Moore and M. M. Greene. P. Hayden was elected president; M. M. Greene, vice president; J. J. Janney, secretary and treasurer. The name was changed in 1867 to the Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad Co., and its purpose was said to be to bring coal, iron and salt out of the valley. The road was completed to Winehester July 16, 1868, and to Athens in January, 1871. The General Assembly dedicated the road as usual by a trip to Lancaster January 13, 1869, twelve coaches carrying 720 passengers, and the road was opened for business in July, 1870. In 1871, B. E. Smith was elected president viee Peter Hayden, and in the following year 28 aeres of ground was bought for round house, traeks, etc. In 1874, Henry C.
Union Station, High Street Front
Noble, B. S. Brown, P. W. Huntington and H. W. Jaeger became members of the board, and in 1876, the road was operated in connection with the Toledo road, mentioned later, Orland Smith general superintendent. It was brought into co-operation with the Ohio & West Vir- ginia in 1881; and then, when M. M. Greene was president, there came a bit of high financing by which the stoek of the three roads was sold, ostensibly to M. M. Greene, but in reality to a syndicate of which Stevenson Burke was the head. Good priees were paid for the stoek- more, it was said, than the stoek had ever been sold for; and yet by a combination of the railroads and eoal lands and an inflation and sale of stock, the syndicate made, it was esti- mated, about $9,000,000. The deal ereated a great sensation in Columbus, where Hocking Valley stoek had beeome a great favorite, and there was a feeling of deep resentment, periodically renewed with the litigation that followed. In 1881 the stock of the road amounted to $2,387,950, and of this 78% was still held by the original subseribers. The company had paid 17 semi-annual eash dividends or 4 or 5% and had made four stock dividends. As a result of the deal, all this investment was destroyed. M. M. Greene was president of the road till 1887, when'C. C. Waite succeeded him. The troubles continued and about five years ago the road passed into the control of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Co., which in 1917 completed a $2,000,000 bridge over the Ohio river at Seiotoville, a short distance above Portsmouth and, by means of a eut-off to Waverly and a right of way over the Norfolk & Western tracks, operates its trains direet to Columbus and the lakes.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
The railroad to Springfield was built in 1871 and what was afterward the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus was built to Mt. Vernon in 1873. The Columbus & Cineinnati Midland Railroad Co. was incorporated in 1882, and the road was built by Colonel Orland Smith, Gilbert C. Hoover and others as far as Wilmington where rail connection with Cincinnati was secured. The Columbus Board of Trade dedicated the road by a trip to Cincinnati, November 13, 1884. This line is now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system, and the Cleve- land, Akron & Columbus road is now a part of the Pennsylvania system.
The Columbus & Toledo Railroad Co. was incorporated in 1872 by M. M. Greene, P. W. Huntington, B. E. Smith, W. G. Deshler, J. A. Wilcox, and John L. Gill. On the board of directors there were men representing the subseribers in various counties through which the route passed, those from Franklin county being William Dennison, B. E. Smith, W. G. Deshler, H. J. Jewett and D. S. Gray. M. M. Greene was president and J. A. Wilcox secretary and treasurer. At an election in 1873, Columbus voted to subseribe $300,000, but was prevented, the law under which the vote was taken having been declared unconstitu- tional. In May, 1876, the subscriptions totaled $1,023,000 and the construction was begun and was completed the next year at a cost of $3,338,507.14.
A railroad down the Seioto valley became a certainty, after long discussion, in 1875, when a company was incorporated by Wm. Monypeny, E. T. Mithoff, John G. Mitehell, T. Ewing Miller, W. B. Hayden, John C. English and John Joyce. The work of construction began in Angust and was completed to Chillicothe in July, 1876, and to Portsmouth in December, 1877. The company having defaulted on its interest, the road was sold in 1890, under pressure from New York, and many of the original subscribers lost all. The same year the road was leased to the Norfolk & Western Railroad Co.
The Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking Railroad Co. was incorporated Otcober 6, 1889, by D. S. Gray, P. W. Huntington, H. D. Turney, W. E. Guerin and F. J. Pieard. In the same month it bought the Columbus & Eastern road which extended from Columbus to Cannelville with anthorized branches further on. The latter had been built in 1882-84 by a company of which G. G. Collins was president and F. Siegel secretary, but had fallen into the hands of a receiver.
What is now known as the Toledo & Ohio Central railroad is the result of the consoli- dation of the Columbus, Ferrara & Mineral Railroad Co., incorporated in 1871, and the Atlantic & Lake Erie Railroad Co., incorporated in 1869. The latter was to construet a road from Toledo to the Hocking valley coal fields, and the former was to build a road from Columbus into the same region. A joint meeting of the stockholders of both roads was held in 1872 and progress reported. The name of the Atlantic & Lake Erie was changed to Ohio Central, and that of the C. F. & M. was changed to the Columbus & Sunday Creek. In 1879 the two were consolidated, the road was completed, the company fell into the hands of a receiver and in 1885 was sold for $1,000,000. The road reached Columbus by a branch from Thurston, though its first access to the city was over the Pennsylvania and the B. & (). tracks. Later the company secured a dircet entrance into Columbus from its main line at Truro on Big Walnut creek and, building a road through South Columbus entered the West Side, using the bank of the Columbus feeder of the Ohio eanal as part of its right of way. A passenger station was erected at West Broad and Starling streets, and the western division of the road was built northwesterly through Marysville, Kenton, Findlay and Bowling Green to Toledo.
In 1891 the Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking Railroad Co., requiring a lake outlet for its coal, joined with Sandusky capitalists and built the Sandusky and Columbus Short Line. which was opened for business in 1893. Later the Short Line was consolidated with the Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking under the name of the Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking. This road went into the hands of a receiver and the Short Line property was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and is now known as the Sandusky division of that system .. The other portion was bought from the receiver by the Toledo & Ohio Central Railway Company and is now a part of the New York Central lines. In order to secure terminal facilities for these roads in Columbus, the Columbus Terminal and Transfer Railroad Co. was incorporated in 1893, and the road after it was built was leased to the Columbus, San- dusky & Hoeking Co. This terminal property later passed into the control of the Norfolk & Western and forms the connecting link between the main line of that road and the San-
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THE RAILROADS
dusky division of the Pennsylvania for the passage of the immense tonnage of West Virginia coal to the lakes.
Columbus is most favorably located with reference to the great highways of commerce. It is on the main line of the Pennsylvania system between the seaboard to the Mississippi river, as well as to Cineinnati. The line of the New York Central system connecting New York and Cineinnati passes through Columbus. The Baltimore & Ohio system also eon- nects Columbus with the seaboard eities. On the map Columbus appears as a hub with railway lines radiating like the spokes of a wheel and reaching to every part of the State. The Ohio Central and Hocking Valley lines give direet serviee to Toledo and intervening points ; the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio to Sandusky and intervening territory; the Big Four and Cleveland, Akron & Columbus to Cleveland and intervening territory; the Hoeking Valley, Ohio Central and Baltimore & Ohio to the southeast; the Norfolk & Western to the south; the Big Four, Pennsylvania and B. & O. Southwestern to Cineinnati and the southwest. Columbus is next door, so to speak, to a large part of the coal produc- ing territory of Ohio, and has the advantage of an abundant and never-failing supply of cheap fuel, an essential to a manufacturing community. The situation as to ore is assured by the number of railway lines connecting with Lake Erie ports. In fact every variety of raw material can be had in Columbus with an average minimum of transportation cost, in- sofar as it is influenced by geographical location and length of haul.
When the railroads were taken over by the Federal Government in 1918 as a war measure vast improvement in tracks, yards and shops were projected because of the reeog- nition of the importance of Columbus as a railroad eenter, but little was actually done and some of the work was left in confusion by the sudden termination of hostilities and the finaneial difficulties of the railroad administration.
The Union Depot Company.
The first frame passenger station admitting three tracks was built by the Columbus & Xenia and the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati companies in 1850. A dining hall was opened on the north side of the station, September 9, 1859, and put in charge of S. E. Ogden. The Union Depot Co. was incorporated in 1868, but no action was taken until 1870, when the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati and the Pittsburg, Cineinnati & St. Louis com- panies formed the Union Depot Co., with a capital stock of $500,000 and six directors, three from each company. In 1873, by an agreement between the constituent railroad companies and the Union Depot Co. the latter was to issue bonds and build a passenger station, with the understanding that all existing railroad companies or thereafter constructed should have the privilege of leasing traek on the same terms as the original parties. The station was built at a cost of $177,940, the cost of the grounds, tracks, etc., running the cost up to $320,000. The first regular passenger train was run into the station February 14, 1875. It was a Pan Handle train, Edwin Morrell conductor, Morris Littell engineer. Barney MeCabe became depot master January 29, 1875, and continued as such for many years.
The new station was a great improvement, but the grade erossings, which were even more objectionable than the frame station, remained to annoy and menace. The High street tunnel under the traeks, constructed in 1875, was a poor makeshift, and there was no satis- factory solution till the city built the viaduct and the Union Depot Co. built the present Union Station in 1894, as narrated elsewhere.
CHAPTER XXIX. STREET AND INTERURBAN TRANSPORTATION.
The Omnibus and Hack-First Horse-Car in 1863-Construction of the Various Lines of Street Railway First Consolidation-Independent Companies and Further Consolidation -Electric Light and Power Companies and Heating Companies Acquired - Electricity as the Motive Power-Doyle's "Dummy" Road-Franchises and Fares-War-Time Con- troversy-Columbus Transfer Co .- Reorganization of the Company in 1919-Building of the Interurban Roads.
In Columbus, as elsewhere, the predecessor of the street car was the omnibus. That vehicle was employed in 1852 to carry passengers to and from the first railway station and, beginning in 1853, to carry passengers between Columbus and Franklinton, to Worthing- ton and Canal Winehester. B. O. Ream was the agent. In 1855 Thomas Broekway in- troduced the "pigmy omnibus" for four passengers, which had a short popularity for shopping and for evening parties. Then came the hack, introduced by W. B. Hawkes & Co., which did a great business during the Civil War. The same company in 1860 ran omni- busses with a five-cent fare on High and Broad streets.
A street railway was talked of and a company was incorporated in 1854, but the project fell through. On November 11, 1862, the Council passed an ordinanec giving a franchise to the Columbus Street Railroad Co., authorizing it to lay its traeks on High street from North Public Lane (Naghten) to South Public Lane (Livingston) ; also on State avenue from the Penitentiary to Broad, thence to High street, thenee to Town and thence to Fourth. High street was to be double-tracked. The fare was to be seven cents, or five tickets for a quarter. The capital stock was $30,000, and there were 21 stockholders as follows: Peter Ambos, J. F. Bartlit, Henry Miller, C. P. L. Butler, T. H. Butler, B. E. Smith, Theodore Comstock, Lewis Mills, Mrs. Celia Mills, Joseph H. Riley, Headley, Eberly & Co., J. M. Trimble, E. Hall, E. F. Bingham, J. L. Green, J. Morrison, O. H. Lattimer, P. Corzilius, Marcus Childs, L. Donaldson and John Miller.
On June 10, 1863, the first car appeared on High street, running every six minutes between the railway station and Mound street. The next year cars were running across the railway track as far north as University (now Poplar) street and as far south as Stewart's Grove. In 1864 there was a reorganization, the capital stock was increased to $130,000, and the directors were Theodore Comstock, J. F. Bartlit, Henry Miller, Peter Ambos, C. P. L. Butler, T. H. Butler, A. C. Headley, B. E. Smith, L. Donaldson, Isaac Eberly and Samuel McClelland. W. H. H. Shinn, superintendent, resigned, and Theodore Comstock, president, seems to have served till 1866 when Thomas Brockway was chosen, Mr. Comstock continuing as president, with William Ferson as secretary. The business was unremunerative and the Council permitted the company in 1865 to charge a 7-cent fare or to sell 10 tickets for 50 cents. In 1866 the company voluntarily reduced the fare to five cents, but in 1867 was again permitted to charge seven cents or to sell five for 25 cents. Business continued bad and there was talk of abandoning the enterprise; but, as a last resort, there was a reorganiza- tion, giving to Isaac Eberly as superintendent a free hand to rescue the business if he could. There had been two-horse cars with a driver and conductor for cach. Mr. Eberly substi- tuted one-horse cars, with a pay-box for each, saving the wages of a conductor, sold the extra horses and renewed the track, making it single. He also introduced new tickets to head off a manifest frand from a dishonest handling of the old. When after about three years he resigned, he had paid the company's share of paving High street with Nicholson bloek and had put the business on a paying basis. Henry Miller then came into the management and, after a few months service, he and Samuel Huston leased the road, paying 5 per cent. per annum on the stock, a rental of $4,200. Together they bought enough of the stock to seeure a controlling interest, at 40 cents on the dollar. Three years later, in 1873, they sold to Henry T. Chittenden at 75 cents on the dollar.
On May 6, 1868, the Friend Street Railroad Company was incorporated by Thomas Miller, M. C. Lilley, H. H. Kimball, Isaac Eberly, Nathaniel Merion, and Horaee Wilson; capital stock $25,000. This road was completed to East Public Lane (Parsons avenue) in
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STREET AND INTERURBAN TRANSPORTATION
July, 1869, and one ear began serviee. This road was intended to reach the Fair Grounds (now Franklin Park) and was ultimately so extended. That was the second line of street railway in the eity. The third was the Long street line which was built by the East Park Plaee Street Railroad Co., of which W. S. Sullivant, W. B. Hawkes, A. D. Rodgers, S. S. Riekly, F. C. Sessions and John G. Mitehell were the incorporators. In January, 1872, ears were running as far as Albert street (Garfield avenue) and the traek was later extended to Winner avenue and finally to the Fair Grounds. There were ear barns on the south side of Long street between Garfield and Monroe avenues. The fare was at first five eents to the barns and 10 eents to the Fair Grounds, then five eents for the entire trip.
The fourth line was that on State street, built by the State and Oak Street Railroad Co., which was incorporated January 23, 1872, by Wm. S. Ide, A. D. Rodgers, E. D. Kingsley, R. C. Hoffman and Luther Donaldson. It had authority under the ordinance to build a road from the east end of the State street bridge along State. Seventh and Oak streets to East Publie Lane (Parsons avenue), thienee to Broad street, east on Broad to Monroe avenue and on that avenue to Long street. The road was completed east from High street as far as Seventh street (Grant avenue), July, 1872, and there it halted till 1882.
Columbus' First Street Car-1863
On May 1, 1871, a company, capital $100,000, was incorporated by Wm. Dennison, R. E. Neil, G. G. Collins, and M. H. Neil to build a narrow gauge road and use on it a "dummy" engine. The termini were the Tod Barraeks on High street near Warren and the Moek road, and the route chiefly on Summit and Kerr streets. Samuel Doyle built the road and a "dummy" engine with three ears operated over the road for a time in 1873-74. It was a losing venture and was abandoned.
On November 16, 1874, the Columbus Street Railroad Company was authorized to extend its traek from High street on Goodale street to Neil avenue and thenee on Neil avenue to the University grounds, the charter being for 20 years.
The Glenwood and Green Lawn Railroad Company was incorporated April 23, 1872, by W. B. Hawkes, A. D. Rodgers, F. C. Sessions, John L. Gill, W. S. Sullivant, W. A. Platt, G. A. Doren, Wm. L. Peek, Robert D. Hague and E. A. Fiteh; eapital stoek $50,000. It was to build a road from High street on Broad street to the west corporation line with a branch to Green Lawn cemetery. The road was built out Broad street in 1875 at a cost of about $40,000, and ear barns were ereeted on West Broad. In 1891 it was rebuilt at standard gauge with eleetrie equipment at a cost of $150,000.
In 1876 a company incorporated for the purpose built a road on High street to the north
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
corporation line. This road was sold the following year to John Marzetti. R. P. Woodruff, W. A. Hershiser, Wm. Powell and Peter Merkle for $15,000 and they, together with Frank E. Powell were incorporated as the North High Street Railroad and Chariot Company, with a capital stock of $30,000. Cars were run south to the Union Station, where connection was made with chariots which traversed High street south.
In November, 1879, the Columbus Railroad Company, operating the High street line south from the Union Station and the Neil avenue line, the Friend Street Railroad Company and the East Park Place Railroad Company were united under the name of the Columbus Consolidated Street Railroad Company, capital stock $250,000. A. D. Rodgers was elected president, E. T. Mithoff viee president, and E. K. Stewart seeretary. The State and Oak street road was bought by the new company and, under a new ordinance, the line was ex- tended out Oak street to Franklin Park, near which ear barns were built. In 1883 the Mt. Vernon avenue line was built as far as Twentieth street and in 1885, the property of the North High Street Railroad and Chariot Company was acquired, and ears for the first time were run without change the entire length of the street. To do these things and make other extension, the capital stoek of the company was inereased, November 28, 1883, to $1,000,000. In 1889, the Schiller street (now Whittier street) line was built.
Experimentation with eleetrieity as a motive power began in 1887 when Sidney Short, using his own patent deviees, built for the company a line from High street to the State Fair Grounds on Chittenden avenue. The system was not entirely successful, but it pointed the way. A decision was soon reached to introduce electrie motive power and, an ordinanee having been passed permitting the change, the company ereeted a power station on West Spring street near the river. On November 7, 1891, in order to meet the cost of electrifiea- tion, the company again inereased its capital stoek to $1,250,000. About the same time the Glenwood and Green Lawn Street Railroad Company adopted electricity as a motive power, and the first electric ears appeared on its line in Angust, 1890. Electrie ears first appeared on High street January 14, 1891; on Long street September 7, 1891, and on Main street and Mt. Vernon avenue, November 11, 1891.
On June 25, 1892, the system with its entire equipment was sold by the Columbus Con- solidated Street Railroad Company to the Columbus Street Railway Company, capital stoek $3,000,000, with the following directors and offieers: Emerson MeMillin, B. J. Burke, G. W. Sinks, C. D. Firestone, P. H. Bruek, and Theodore Rhoads; E. E. Denniston president, E. K. Stewart viee president, general manager and treasurer, R. E. Sheldon second vice president, James Williams secretary. The Glenwood and Green Lawn Street Railroad Com- pany property had then been aequired and improvements and new lines eosting $646,000 were in immediate prospeet. The line from High street on Chestnut to Fourth and thenee north to Chittenden avenne was built that year, and the extension of the High street line south from Stewart avenue had recently been completed.
In 1893 the Columbus & Westerville Railway Company, which held a franchise in Cleve- land avenue to the north corporation line, was granted by Council the right to operate a road from Cleveland avenue by various streets to Spring, thenee to Front, thenee north on Pennsylvania avenue to Fifth avenue, and south on Front, east on Livingston and south on Parsons to south corporation line. This road was built and operated by what was known as the Columbus Central Railway Company.
An independent company in 1893 seenred a franchise for the building of a street railway on Leonard avenue and the Crosstown Street Railway Company was organized that year of the Leonard Avenue Street Railway Company and the Glenwood and Green Lawn Street Railway Company, but in 1899 the Crosstown Street Railway Company fell into the hands of the Columbus Railway Company, which at the same time acquired the city lines and the interurban lines of the Columbus & Westerville or Columbus Central Railway Company. The Indianola and Fourth Street Railway Company which had been organized in 1893 and built a line on Fourth street was acquired by the Columbus Railway Company in 1895.
In 1901 S. B. Hartman, O. A. Sehenek, Louis Seidensticker, Wm. H. Luchtenberg, and Benjamin Monett incorporated the Central Market Street Railway Company and obtained from the Couneil the right to build a line in Rich, Fifth, Donaldson, Livingston, and other streets to the south and north corporation lines. The road was built and was acquired by the general company in 1907.
Up to 1898, as narrated in another place, there were two companies furnishing electric
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STREET AND INTERURBAN TRANSPORTATION
current for light and power-the Columbus Electric Light and Power Company and the Columbus Edison Electric Light Company. These were consolidated as The Columbus Edi- son Company, in 1903 and in 1904 sold to the general railway company which had become the Columbus Railway, Power & Light Company. In the meantime four companies that had been selling electricity and hot water heating were consolidated in 1904 as the Columbus Public Service Company. They were the Columbus Heating Company, incor- porated April 20, 1900; the Indianola Land & Power Company, incorporated March 26, 1901; the Indianola Heating & Lighting Company, incorporated September 7, 1901, and the East Columbus Heating & Lighting Company, incorporated April 26, 1902. All the prop- erty of the Columbus Public Service Company in 1908 was leased, and in 1915 was sold, to the Columbus Railway, Power & Light Company.
At the death of Mr. Denniston in 1893, Emerson MeMillin was elected president. He resigned in 1898 and was succeeded by Robert E. Sheldon who, in turn, was succeeded in 1912 by Samuel G. MeMeen who served till 1919; Norman MeD. Crawford vice president, E. K. Stewart vice president, general manager and treasurer, C. M. Clark vice president, P. V. Burington secretary and auditor, H. M. Burington assistant secretary and assistant auditor, Harold W. Clapp general superintendent; board of directors, the president and vice presidents and the following: Carl J. Hoster, D. Meade Massie, Wm. A. Gill, Randolph S. Warner, Casper W. Hacker, Adolf Theobald, Wm. C. Willard and Charles L. Kurtz.
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