History of Farmington, Ohio
Through Farmington by Rail
by
Dorothy Sloan Anthony
The town fathers are renovating the abandoned railroad depot which
has become an integral part of the village's Western Reserve heritage. By unwrapping
the history of this building, the life of an entire community is being
restored. Funds are meager for the project, but it doesn't need to be completely
renovated to be enjoyed and utilized. Since the Ohio State Historic Association no
longer provides funds for an endeavor of this kind, tax money cannot be used. Even
though it can never be a registered landmark, it is being lovingly preserved by the
personal efforts of ordinary folks with limited budgets. Council members, trustees,
and village volunteers have put in countless hours during the past months knowing it is
their responsibility to uncover and pass on the history of the community to their
children.
The depot would have been lost long ago if it had to meet the exacting criteria for
National Historic Preservation. At one time, railroad families lived in nearly every
village block and new appreciation can be found for the community they built. It is
time for another generation of Farmingtonites to realize it is their turn to contribute.
The old B & O railroad station, now the West Farmington Village Hall
Station Changes Hands
The village council obtained possession of the abandoned B & O
Railroad station after the rail line closed operations in the 1970's. Most railway
structures were demolished as soon as they were surplus so the station building is a rare
sight and a rare building. It was moved from East Main Street to Grove Street in the
village park, thus losing points by national preservation standards. A crew of
volunteer townsmen used pole rollers for the depot's three block journey on Route 88 to
its new location on a cement block foundation in the park.
Continuing maintenance expenses have caused consideration of what
restoration and renovation would adapt the depot for reuse yet preserve its character.
The appearance of the outside of the building has changed little but the interior
of a station house is difficult to modify for municipal use. A small ship-lap sided
garage was added next to the building at its new location and the waist-high loading dock
with ramp was removed. Insulation, heating and plumbing have been installed.
Employing much of the reconstruction of the past two decades, room partitions have been
changed to make a separate room for police headquarters and its necessary equipment, a
meeting room for the council, committees or boards, a mayor's office, furnace and utility
room, lavatory and community meeting room. Space will be allotted to preserve local
memorabilia and archives.
When History Began
The railway through the village has provided much of its history. It
was Austin D. Kibbee, a real entrepreneur, who headed many commercial and industrial
endeavors in the town and was active in instigating a rail service here which promoted the
growth of the community.
From 1853 to 1856, considerable grading was done on a proposed road called
the Clinton Air Line. It entered the state at Kinsman on the Pennsylvania State Line
and passed southwest through Trumbull, Geauga, Portage and Summit Counties, thence onward
to the southwest. Village land was purchased in the 1850's and the rail bed passed
through Farmington Village just north of where the B & O later operated. The
abandoned bed could easily be followed in the 1920's and '30's.
Kibbee was elected a representative to the legislature in Ohio's early
years and served from 1864 to 1868. He was instrumental in getting a railroad
through Farmington to connect the inland town with the outside area. The expansion
of Western Reserve Seminary was an inducement for the railroad, but Kibbee had also
established a barter business handling grain, farm products, walnuts, hogs, beef, potash
and cheese which needed rail to ship to lakefront markets in trade for general
merchandise. He developed a most flourishing mercantile business between Painesville
and Pittsburgh. Part of his business was transacted from his premises where the
Willrich apartments have been reconstructed on Main Street and from his residence across
the street in the present Anthony home. It is the oldest house now standing and was
entered on the tax list in 1827.
The Narrow Gauge
The first railroad was narrow gauge known as Painesville and Youngstown
RR. By 1873 it was Painesville, Youngstown and Pittsburgh and passenger service was
established. The line went through Farmington to Fairport on the lakeshore. In
1886, it was leased to Pittsburgh & Western, transferred to B & O in 1890, widened
to standard gauge in 1900 and was known as the Lake Branch.
The route selected for the narrow gauge track from Youngstown to
Painesville was attractive because Youngstown was already established as a center of steel
industry and was edged by the Mahoning Valley coalfield, while Fairport at the lakefront
housed port facilities.
Steamboat traffic had declined and it was believed a railroad would revive
the harbor. Traffic was expected to be mainly iron ore from the upper Great Lakes
moving south, and coal moving north to lake ports.
A railroad provided the prospect of putting Painesville into rivalry with
Cleveland, Ashtabula and Conneaut.
The P & Y Railroad was chartered Nov. 17, 1870 and construction began
at Painesville the following July. It was completed to Chardon by 1872, then to
Burton by 1873 and to Niles by 1874. Youngstown was reached in 1875 at a cost of
about $20,000 per mile. Chardon was an engine terminal on the P & Y. Because the train
was expect to haul heavy bulk commodities it was built to near full gauge standards with
the exception of curves up to 12 degrees and a severe grade of 1.6 percent between
Bundysburg Road crossing and Middlefield summit siding. It was known as Swine Creek
Grade.
The Oldest Railroad
The B & O, the oldest railroad in the United States, in 1827
envisioned a line from Baltimore to the Ohio River making a pathway to most of the known
lands. It was to have cars on rails drawn by horses and would connect the waters of
the East with the waters of the West. A meeting was held Feb. 12 in Baltimore and a
charter was obtained from the government in April, and a company organized and a board
elected.
The first cornerstone was laid July 4, 1828 with 90-year-old Charles
Carroll of Carrollton officiating. He was the only survivor of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. Appropriate ceremonies included a magnificent
procession of the military and civil associations, trades and professions ever witnessed
in the United States. A vast crowd assembled to take part in the imposing ceremonies
and Carroll, the venerable patriot said, "I consider this among the most important
acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence."
Preparations were made to push the work through with as much energy as
could be exercised in the manner of construction. By 1853 the company had actually
reached its objective and branched out in many directions including the Lake Branch.
A magnificent banquet took place in Wheeling, its western terminus, in honor of the
completion of the road which was to perpetuate the union of the states. Benjamin H.
Latrobe was chief engineer of the stupendous undertaking.
J. E. White of Callery Junction, PA. came to Farmington in November, 1899
to supervise laying out the P & W Branch from Fairport. First trains on the line
were drawn by 40-ton locomotives and hauled 12 cars with 14-ton capacity. A far cry
from the 260-ton engines hauling 80 cars loaded with up to 60 tons after the tracks were
converted to standard gauge. Trains operated at about 20 miles per hour and made two round
trips a day between Painesville and Youngstown. Later multiple diesel units were
used on the Swine Creek Grade.
The railroad didn't normally run passenger trains but did operate
excursions in the summer months. The 'branch' was not very successful and barely met
expenses because of competition with well established standard gauge railways to other
ports in Ohio.
A very modest building was used for a station house before the typical
designed depot was built as the railroad was becoming more successful which was used till
the 1970's.
Important Visitors
Governor William McKinley spoke from the back of a train at West
Farmington on November 3, 1894. He was passing through and was greeted by more than
1,000 people. Representatives turned out from Parkman, Mesopotamia, Bristol, Bloomfield,
Champion and Southington, including a cornet band from Southington. Factories and
schools were closed and all the pupils carried flags.
While waiting for the arrival of the train which was more than an hour
late, A. W. Jones of Youngstown expounded on the true Republican principles from the
station platform. The train came thundering in amid the enthusiastic cheers of the
crowd and Gov. McKinley delivered a ten-minute speech before the train moved on.
On Feb. 23, 1914, Ohio area Knights of Pythias lodges chartered a coach on
the B & O and took nearly one hundred prospective members from the local chapter to
Cleveland Temp for ritualistic work.
They Kept Them Running
One fourth of a mile southeast of the Rt. 88 crossing was a pumping
station where water was pumped from Grand River into an elevated water tank. Made of
creosote soaked planks, it was built at a trestle which spanned the river. Longtime
pumper, Albert Conley, known as Bearcat, was succeeded by Ulysses Gould dubbed Useless
Gould. Water was pumped from the river several times a day to fill the tank.
Engines stopped at the tower where a supply pipe was swung around to fill the steam
engines before going up the grade toward Bundysburg. The tracks crossed the village
diagonally on a slope hardly noticeable except to a loaded freight train. An extra
engine was "parked" on a siding to use as a "double header" or
"pusher". It would switch off at a siding at the top of the grade
and return to its post.
The main products: coal, iron ore, fruit, flour and a lot of miscellaneous
freight were hauled on the branch line from Fairport Harbor to Youngstown and on to
Pittsburgh and East. The Farmington branch was very important in World War I and had
as many as 20 trains a day and two "pushers" were stationed at the beginning of
the grade.
In the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD, a large
mural shows a doubleheader under full steam on the tracks northwest of Farmington.
A nine-member gang of "section hands" serviced the tracks from a
handcar used for transportation. One summer day just before breaking for lunch after
working on the wooden water tower, Leonard Wolcott, shortly out of high school and a
member of the pioneer Wolcott family, stepped backwards onto the track. An air
hammer being used made so much noise it drowned out the sound of an approaching train and
Wolcott was killed instantly.
On one occasion when the pipes at the pumphouse froze, Gould lit a fire
under them to speed the thawing and forgot it. When black smoke started rolling up,
Harry Chapel, agent at the station, started running down the tracks yelling at everyone he
saw. Neal Cox, foreman of the section gang was just coming in from the day's work
and Walt Owen and Jigger Anthony, on their way home from school, joined Chapel.
After they doused the fire, Cox accosted Gould, "That's the third
tank you've set on fire." "It is not", retorted Gould as he took a
swing at Cox. Chapel grabbed up both men and threw them down over the bank "Get back
to work, you're on railroad time."
The Busy Years
A passenger train went west to Painesville each morning and returned each
afternoon. Mail bags were carried both directions and were picked up by the
postmaster when the train passed through twice a day. Frank Hawkins, once an agent
on the railroad, was longtime postmaster and he trundled the mail sacks in a two-wheeled
pushcart to the post office from the station a block away.
The latest passenger train was a gas-electric motor car with two passenger
coaches and a baggage car, called the "hoodle-bug". This passenger service
was discontinued in the 1930's when the B & O Bus Line took its place. The last
run on the B & O was Oct. 31, 1981 and the following year the track was removed.
The depot building, clapboard with a gabled roof was built in the 1890's
and was long and rectangular with a square bay in front and a broad roof overhang.
The eaves supported by bowed brackets served as a projection over six-pane windows and
small horizontal windows in what was formerly the baggage room.
A siding joined the railroad just west of the Third Street crossing and
extended eastward through the village with spurs to switch off cars for unloading at the
feed mill, creamery company, basket factory and other industries that cropped up now and
then along the right of way. The West Farmington Creamery, first operated by Carl
Bigalow on the west of First Street behind the feed mill, was taken over in 1909 as a
division of Harmony Creamery Co. It shipped 70,000 pounds of milk to Pittsurgh daily
by rail. Utilized was a one of a kind glass-lined thermal tank car known as the
"world's largest milk bottle", supposedly the first in the United States.
The car returned to the village each evening and barefoot youngsters in their coveralls
climbed inside to scrub down the interior before it was flushed out with hot water and
steam by white-suited creamery attendants. The building was of stucco-tile covered
with plaster giving the appearance of cement. It consisted of two stories and an
attic. Power was furnished by steam engines and there was an ice making and cooling
machines. The company went into receivership and closed in 1930.
Creamery Tank
A Thing of the Past
Ashes from the rail corridor were sold to Amato Construction Company as
well as the railroad ties. Track property was mostly sold to owners of adjacent land
and absorbed into crop acreage.
Now that the stationhouse has been moved to a public location, the mayor
Allen Patchin assisted by council members and members of their families, will maintain and
preserve a building that represents a full century of Farmington's heritage.
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Prepared by: The Bristol
Public Library Bristolville, Ohio
Contact the Webmaster at bristol@oplin.org
05/07/07
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