OGS Saturday Showcase: Streetcars & Interurban Railways in Northeast Ohio
A presentation by Jenna Kish, OGS Archivist, on Northeast Ohio’s interurban railways and streetcars, using reminiscences and photographs in the OGS Archives. The presentation includes readings from a streetcar conductor’s autobiography, as well as his personal photograph collection, and many additional pictures and post cards of streetcars and rail stations from the Ohio Photograph Collection. Particular focus on the Cleveland-Southwest & Columbus Railway (1907-1931), which connected Cleveland, Bucyrus, Ashland, Wooster, and many other smaller communities via electric railways.
Materials from the following archival collections were displayed and used in the presentation:
- MSS 473 files 9-12 Hull-Underwood Family Collection, Lorain County, Ohio, 1800-1990
- Ohio Photograph Collection: Cities/Places, Cleveland, Polk, Plymouth, Wooster, and Medina County files
- OGS Map Collection, Railroad Map of Ohio, published by the Railroad Commission of Ohio, 1910
The following books were passed around the room to attendees (available in the OGS Library):
- The Pioneer route and electric railways of Northeast Ohio : the rise and fall of the Cleveland, Southwestern & Columbus railway system by Stephen D. Hambley
- Southwestern lines by Jeffrey R. Brashares
- Streetcars and interurbans of Richland County, Ohio. Volume 1. Mansfield-Shelby-Plymouth-Norwalk by Brett Douglas Dunbar with Dennis Lamont and Brad Knapp
Saturday Showcase is a series of presentations by the OGS staff featuring particular resources of the Library and Archives. They are hosted in-person at the library in Bellville, Ohio.