MEDINA COUNTY OHIO - Trolley Times

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(This is a compilation of information and newspaper articles 
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July 2002
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Trolley Times

Sun Newspapers, Thursday, August 16, 1984

Interurban was a major factor in early growth of Brunswick

The electric line from Cleveland to Mansfield was built with a substation at Rt. 303 and 
Substation Road as Brunswick started to grow.  People more commonly hear it called the 
Interurban Railway.  This was a welcome transportation for people wanting to go to Cleveland 
and also for shipping milk from here to Cleveland.
The gravel pit on Laurel Road west, now being filled in by Boyas Excavating, was 
created because of the line.
When the Interurban line was built, a spur was run to what was then only a hill.  Then, 
the gravel was blasted away from the hillside and shoveled by hand and placed in a car.  It was 
hauled along the line where it was used to fill between the tracks.
The work was done by a group of 30 Italian men who lived on the site in a boarding 
house.  Their work, however, was all for naught, because they discovered that the gravel 
wouldn't pack down and it all had to be shoveled out and replaced with cinders.
The pit was later enlarged by Minnesota Mining.
The powerhouse for the electric lines was on Substation Road and held two large 
generators.  There was a blacksmith shop at the substation where buggies were repaired.  Farnum 
Gibbs sold Gertslager buggies there as well.  Material from a church, town down in Strongsville, 
was used for the building.
The crossing was the scene of several accidents.  One night, Ruth Miner and Bernard 
Ridiker lost their lives crossing the track.  There were no ambulances at the time so Ruth's father 
had to carry her body on his lap to the funeral director's office.  Glenn Kingsbury also was killed 
on the tracks three miles south.  Perry Freese was crossing with his train binder when he was hit 
by the train.  It demolished his machine and killed Freese.
Another accidental death occurred there, but of a different nature.
Sam Roth worked on a section crew.  He stepped into a booth where the phone for the 
electric line was housed.  There was a short circuit and he was electrocuted.
A fellow by the name of Bennett ran his grain machine into the side of an electric car, but 
was alive to tell about it.
Another group tried to finance an Interurban car line out what is now Rt. 42.  They 
graded for it all the way from Cleveland to just south of Kingsbury Road when they discontinued 
their efforts.
While the Interurban line was a great source of revenue for the community, it, like many 
similar systems throughout the nation, gave way to the auto.