Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Electric Railway

Pictured below is Car No. 9 of the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Electric Railway, near the northwest corner of Monroe and Hancock Streets in Sandusky. William Brehm’s dry goods store is visible at the left. Notes with the original picture indicate that Walter Rieger is one of the boys in the photograph.


The Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Electric Railway was in operation from Sandusky to Milan beginning in July of 1893. The line from Milan to Norwalk began running in September, 1893. The track connected with the Peoples Electric Railway in Sandusky. The electric railway car below is in Norwalk, Ohio.

In 1901 the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Electric Railway became part of the Lake Shore Electric Railway. The Lake Shore Electric Railway was closed out in 1938, with the Lake Shore Coach Co., a bus transportation facility taking its place. The Lake Shore Coach Co. was sold to Greyhound in 1949.

An earlier streetcar line in Sandusky, the Sandusky Street Railway Company, was drawn along the tracks by horse. Chapter XVII of Charles E. Frohman’s book Sandusky's Yesterdays, entitled “Trolley Days,” provides historical information about early transportation in Sandusky. A sixteen page illustrated booklet by R. G. Morrison, The Sandusky, Milan and Norwalk Electric Railway, is housed in the Transportation Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. To view this item, inquire at the Reference Services Desk in the lower level of the Sandusky Library.

1 comment:

Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in the Great State of Ohio said...

On page 112 of the book "Ohio on the Move Transportation in the Buckeye State" it reads:

"In 1892 an eight-mile electric carrier made its debut between Canton and Massillon, and a year later a nearly twenty mile line began operations between the Soliders' Home in Sandusky and downtown Norwalk under the banner of the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Railway."