The exciting times of the interurban era

People often ask me what my favorite period of history is.My usual answer is the pioneer time of 200 years ago. However, if I were able to return there, I'd only want to go for a few hours — no air conditioning or indoor plumbing, you know.My thinking has changed somewhat recently and I believe a most interesting time would be the era of the interurbans — the street cars which ran on so many different routes across the country, especially here in northern Ohio.Norwalk first enjoyed interurban service in the summer of 1893 when the Sandusky, Milan & Huron Company (its original intent was to connect those three communities) built a line south from Sandusky through Milan and on to Norwalk. This was a real innovation for local people who had had to depend on horse-drawn transportation on unimproved roads, or railroads to move from Point A to Point B.This pioneer line in 1893 was then the longest interurban line in the world (17 miles) and less than 10 years later was part of the Lake Shore Electric Co., which by purchase owned several lines and provided easy transportation to Toledo, Cleveland and points beyond. This was a far cry from 1893 when an extra electric generating station had to be built at Milan to provide enough power to ascend and descend the hills either side of the Huron River crossing as well as the two ravines on Old State Road north of Norwalk.Norwalk also became the western terminus of a rival line known as the Cleveland & Southwestern, which ran west from Cleveland through Birmingham and Berlin Heights, not far from the Lake Shore Electric track. South from Norwalk for a few years one could ride toward Shelby and Mansfield on the Sandusky, Norwalk and Mansfield electric road. This line maintained track only from Norwalk south on Norwood Avenue through New Haven and Plymouth to Shelby. Rented track allowed it to run cars from there to Mansfield and from Norwalk through Milan to Sandusky. The SN & M didn't last a long time, but was popular with Mansfield people for providing summer excursions to Cedar Point.Most interurban lines were successful for at least a few years and the Lake Shore Electric outlived most of them, continuing to operate in Cleveland after abandoning the "through Norwalk to Toledo" line in 1938. One line which never really got off the ground was the Sandusky, Bellevue, Monroeville and Norwalk. This line was organized in 1900 with the intention of linking all four communities. Bellevue's local government wasn't interested in interurban, so the SBM&N decided to build just to the east city limits of the town and not try to acquire right of way to the town center.Another source says this line sent spurs out to each town and that Monroeville would be reached via Ohio 4 and 99, but I believe the line was intended to run to Bellevue and then east to Monroeville. I do know that from Monroeville, the line was planned to run on Milan Avenue and River Road past St. Joseph's Cemetery and then into Norwalk via West Washington Street and Whittlesey Avenue.A power house was built at Monroeville along the river near the former Faulhaber factory and much grading was done on the hills, especially on West Washington. The latter street was still unimproved, and strips of concrete were poured down the center of the road on which the rails were to be laid. Those strips were still there in 1937 when the street was improved — and perhaps are still in place.As I said, few, if any, rails ever were laid and no cars ever ran. Possibly the only positive outcome of this proposed line was that while grading on the hill west of the river and south of Drake Road, the workmen encountered a type of clay with special healing powers. It was tested on the sore feet of the workhorses. Some 20 acres were leased for mining, sterilizing and purifying. ... But I don't believe that was a great success, either.* * *REMEMBER: My "Just Like Old Times" books are on sale at New Directions Design, 20 W. Main St., in downtown Norwalk. These contain my earlier columns fully indexed and in permanent book form.Henry Timman, an authority on Firelands history, resides in rural Norwalk. The Dinky was a familiar sight in downtown Norwalk, the halfway point between Cleveland and Toledo. Timman