Thursday, April 2, 2015

Tracks on the Metropark trail

The more I have looked at maps of old Berea, I've come to the conclusion that the quarry railroad must have run where the present day metroparks trail meanders south of Bagley Road.  This was confirmed by a quote in A Collection of Historical Facts Concerning Berea, Ohio.

In this book there is a selection written by Mrs. Lurs Gould Baldwin where she relates the early history of Berea.  She mentions the following:

"Oxen were used to haul the stone from the first, and track went down Front St. along the present line of the trolley cars.  After the Cleveland and Columbus R. R. was built in 1849 a pony engine hauled the stone along the river to the depot.  This important event made a marked improvement in the township as well as the village."

I would guess, then, that the quarry railroad left the railroad main line, ran down North Rocky River Drive, dipped down into the valley somewhere before Bridge Street (present day Pulaski Street), crossed to the other side just south of the present Bagley Road bridge (where one bridge support still stands) and then ran along the river, where today's Metropark trail runs, and onto the quarries.

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