History of the College Hill Railroad

The December 18, 2008 edition of the College Hill eNewsletter contains an interesting article by Terry Lindsey of the College Hill Historical Society about the College Hill Railroad, which served the neighborhood between 1876 and 1899.

The line was doomed when electric streetcar service began in 1895, slowly siphoning away its customer base.

The original line ran from near the corner of Crawford and Spring Grove avenues in Northside to a terminal located at the rear of the current parking lot of the College Hill Presbyterian Church on Hamilton Avenue, opposite Llanfair Avenue.

One year later, a plan was enacted to extend the line to Venice (Ross), with new tracks running through West College Hill, then running along Simpson Avenue in North College Hill to a point just west of Mount Healthy.

Lindsey's article also contains several photos of relics of College Hill's railroad age.