Fort Mitchell Streetcar

In 2007 I worked with Dennis Gordon and the GIS mapping personnel ot the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County (PDSKC) to create a digitized map of the route of the Fort Mitchell Streetcar route for historical purposes. With increasing interest in the history of the streetcar routes I thought I would share with those who have any interest my notes relative to that project as well some personal notes relative to the streetcar. Unfortunately I no longer have the attachments referenced in the notes. Here they are:

ROUTE OF THE FORT MITCHELL STREETCAR

The northern terminus of the streetcars and buses from Kentucky was the Dixie Terminal complex, two separate buildings that were attached in downtown Cincinnati. (See Exhibit “A”)

The Dixie Terminal Building was actually an office building that still sits on the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine Streets in downtown Cincinnati (#1 on Exhibit “A”). The actual “terminal” portion was a five-story building that “fronted” on Third Street, and currently has a “Great American” sign on it (#2 on Exhibit “A”). The two buildings were connected by a ramp that led from the lower level of the office building portion up to the upper level of the terminal portion, and by stairs that led from the lower level of the office building down to the lower level of the terminal. The ramp up and the stairs down were located in that section of the two buildings where they are contiguous.
To access the terminal building you used one of three entrances/exits located in the main portion of the Dixie Terminal building. There is an entrance on Fourth Street into the first (main) floor of the building, an entrance on Walnut Street into the lower level of the main building, and also from an alley located between Third and Fourth on Vine Street that led to the west side of the lower level. There are two sets of marble stairs that led passengers from the streetcars and buses to the Fourth Street entrance, one set of stairs for those people going “up”, and a set for those people coming “down”.

The streetcars and buses from Kenton County turned around and dropped off and boarded passengers on the second floor of the terminal building, and they accessed that building by two ramps that lead directly onto the Suspension Bridge approach. I am not sure about the time at the building of the Suspension Bridge, but prior to the construction of the Fort Washington Way in the very late 1950s and very early 1960s, the ramp on the north side of the Suspension Bridge bridged Front, Second, and Pearl Streets and connected to Third Street right opposite the Dixie Terminal building. It was a toll bridge and the collection booths were probably less than 100’ from Third Street. In fact, some of the booths were actually under the ramps that carried the streetcars and buses up to the second floor of the Dixie Terminal. The toll in that era was 10 cents for cars, and there were actually turnstiles on the walkway that required you to deposit a penny (one cent) to walk across the bridge. There was also a ramp off the bridge for northbound traffic that allowed you to exit onto Second Street. When the Fort Washington Way was completed in the 1960s, the ramps to the Dixie Terminal bridged Fort Washington and connected to the bridge ramp on the south side of Fort Washington Way.

The streetcars and buses from Campbell County used a similar set up on the lower level, which was at the same level as Third Street, and they traveled across the old Central Bridge (now rebuilt and called the Taylor-Southgate Bridge -- actually, after looking through the book “The Green Line”, I believe they may have used the L & N bridge) over Second Street for a short distance to Broadway, up Broadway to Third Street, and then west on Third Street to the terminal.
From the terminal the Fort Mitchell streetcar traveled down the exit ramp and across the Suspension Bridge straight up Court Street. You must remember that the present “yoke” that routes Cincinnati traffic onto Scott Street and Greenup Street traffic onto the bridge did not exist when the streetcars were running. Court Street actual went down grade from Third Street in Covington to the existing level of Second Street, and then the bridge approach started back uphill at Second Street to the bridge itself.

Route through Covington

From and to Third and Court Streets in Covington the inbound and outbound Fort Mitchell cars actually traveled a separate route through Covington until they joined up again at Pike and Hermes Streets.
Southbound streetcars took the following route from Third and Court:
​Continued on Court to Park Place;
​Right on Park Place to Scott Street;
​Left on Scott Street to Fourth Street;
​Right on Fourth Street to Madison Avenue;
​Left on Madison Avenue to Eleventh Street;
​Right on Eleventh Street over the viaduct to Russell Street;
​Left on Russell Street to Twelfth Street;
​Right on Twelfth Street to Hermes Street;
​Right on Hermes Street to Pike Street;
​Left on Pike Street to Montague;
​Right on Montague to what is currently northbound
​Amsterdam Road coming down from Park Hills.

At this point the streetcar traveled mostly through “the woods” on rights-of-ways that existed or that had been created all the way to the southern turn-around next to the Greyhound Tavern (originally the Dixie Tea Room) in Fort Mitchell. From the point where the streetcars went “into the woods” on Montague the southbound tracks and the northbound tracks ran parallel to each other for the duration of the trip to the “End of the Line” in Fort Mitchell. Utility poles were located all along the route between the two sets of tracks that held the “T” supports that held the electrified trolley lines that powered the streetcars.

There are two notes of interest with respect to the route through Covington. First of all, there was only a single set of tracks from Pike and Hermes to the top of Montague Street where the streetcar went “into the woods” and headed south. I suppose this was done possibly for one or both of two reasons. There was only a single set of tracks that existed from Pike and Hermes north and Pike Street. And, Montague is a narrow street. You may wonder how they avoided any problems caused by the presence of a single set of tracks. Well, there were two sets of signals, each with a red light and a green light. One was on a utility pole on the north side of Pike Street at Hermes facing the streetcars coming up Hermes, and the other was on a utility pole on the north side of Montague facing the streetcars that were coming north from Park Hills. If either a northbound or a southbound streetcar were on the single set of tracks it would cause the light for the streetcars coming in the opposite direction to turn red and it would remain red until that streetcar cleared the single set of tracks.
Secondly, I often wondered why both the northbound and the southbound Fort Mitchell streetcars didn’t both use Pike Street all the way to Madison.

In reading Jim Reis’ “Pieces Of The Past” I learned that the Fort Mitchell line (#1) was merely an extension of the “Lewisburg Line” (#10) that was built previously. “Lewisburg” was the neighborhood around St. John’s Church. That streetcar took the route outlined above to Pike and Hermes, and then headed back over to Cincinnati taking Pike Street to Madison Avenue.

The northbound route of the Fort Mitchell streetcar through Covington took the following route:

​Down Montague to Pike Street after coming out of “the woods” from
Park Hills;
​Left on Pike Street to Madison Avenue;
​Left on Madison to Third Street;
​Right on Third Street to Court Street;
​Left on Court Street and over the Suspension Bridge to the Dixie Terminal.
Route through Park Hills.

Once the streetcar ventured into “the woods” when leaving Montague Street it followed what is essentially the current route of the northbound section of Amsterdam Road (see Exhibit “B”). You must remember that when the streetcars existed Amsterdam Road was a somewhat narrow two-way road that operated strictly on what is now the one-way southbound portion of Amsterdam Road from Motague Road to that point where is now joins up with the northbound lanes. As it approached Hamilton Road it stayed to the east side of Amsterdam Road in the area that is now “Trolley Park” in Park Hills (see Exhibit “C”). In fact, on the GIS map you can see two small structures made of creek rock that still exist along Hamilton Road which were the passenger waiting shelters for the streetcars. The streetcar tracks ran immediately to the west of those two structures, and if you look at that area you can see that the utility poles still exist that separated the northbound and southbound tracks.

The shelter that is located directly opposite Park Drive at this point brings back many fond memories of Tuesday nights and warm summers when my Mother and I would board the streetcar in Fort Mitchell and take it to Park Drive where we would then walk to the band shell in Devou Park for the weekly Tuesday night concerts on the lawn. They would present about 10 different entertaining acts every Tuesday night and it would wrap up with a “sing along” that was led by a lady by the name of Ruth Best. They would project the words of the songs on a large screen that was located on the stage and a “bouncing ball” on the screen would lead you through the songs. There may have been a gentleman who was also a co-host, but I cannot remember his name if there was. Perhaps I’ll have to go back and re-read Jim Reis’ accounts of the concerts. We used to always stop at the concession stand that still exists opposite the end of Montague Street to pick up our snacks for the concert. I do remember that it seemed as if they had the best ice balls in the world at Devou Park!

From the passenger station opposite Park Drive the route proceeded across Amsterdam and followed the right-of-way that still exists in back of the homes and the Park Hills city building located on Amsterdam. That right-of-way is pretty much still in tack as is demonstrated by the GIS map (Exhibit “D”), and proceeds on up the hill across Lawton Road and along the end of Altavia Road. If I am not mistaken there was also a stone shelter at Lawton Road and perhaps another at Altavia, but I am not certain, especially of the latter.
As the streetcar passed the end of Altavia Road it approached Sleepy Hollow Road, which was considerably lower than the grade of the streetcar line at that point. It was at Sleepy Hollow Road where the streetcar transversed the first of two trestles that carried it over a roadway that was lower than the route of the streetcar (Exhibit “E”). It was there that the streetcar entered either Lookout Heights or what was unincorporated county area. I am not sure about the Lookout Heights’ side of Sleepy Hollow, but when the leaves are off the trees you can look up at the hill on the Park Hills side and see the rocks that provided the support where the trestle abutted the hillside.
I can recall that as you crossed the trestle the entrance to the “Sunnyside Riding Club” was located on Sleepy Hollow Road in the woods next to and on the southwest side of the trestle. The Club had a lounge, the Teddy Bear Lounge, located on the property, and it had some notoriety during its time.

Route through Lookout Heights (now Fort Wright)

After it crossed the trestle the streetcar veered to the east a little and proceeded up what is now Park Road in Fort Wright (Exhibit “F”). Park Road in Fort Wright did not exist at that time and I am fairly sure that Park Road was constructed on the old streetcar right-of-way.
From that point the streetcar proceeded up what is now the traveled portion of Park Road until it got to Barrington Road where it proceeded through what Fort Wright calls “Volunteer Park”, the green area and playground on the east side of Park Road between Barrington and Morris Place (Exhibit “G”). In fact, at this point, as it is in Park Hills’ Trolley Park, the utility poles still exist to mark the center line of the two sets of tracks. At this point the streetcar entered Fort Mitchell.
Route through Fort Mitchell.

As the streetcar left the Trolley Park area of Lookout Heights (Fort Wright), it proceeded into Fort Mitchell following a right-of-way that is now the back property lines of the homes on the east side of Fortside Circle (Exhibit “H”) and proceeded pretty much on a straight line across the Kruempelman Farm (now Ole Fort Mitchell subdivision) to St. John’s Road. As it approached St. John’s Road across the Kruempelman Farm it transversed a large earthen berm that had been constructed to keep the tracks at an elevation equal to the level of Iris Road, located on the other side of St. John’s Road. It was at St. John’s road where the streetcar crossed the second of two trestles (Exhibit “I”). While the elevated berm has eroded and been removed over the years, you can still see the concrete wall that was constructed on the south side of St. John’s Road to hold back the earth and support the south end of the trestle.

As it crossed the trestle headed toward Iris Road, there was a stop on that side of the trestle, and a large set of concrete steps on the east side of the wall that led down to St. John’s Road. In addition to the growth that was starting to occur in the suburbs, one of the other reasons the streetcar route was extended was to serve those who wish to visit the three cemeteries in what is now all Fort Mitchell (St. John’s, Highland, and St. Mary’s.)

As it left the stop at the cemetery the streetcar proceeded south across the short right-of-way that is evident on the map until it reached the paved portion of Iris Road. The streetcar right-of-way from that point to West Orchard has been deeded over to the adjoining property owners, but the tracks continued from the end of the right-of-way shown on the map along the east side of Iris Road and across West Orchard Road (Exhibit “J”).

At that point the streetcar right-of-way veered to the left slightly along the east side of the triangular park area located along Iris Road and between West Orchard Road and Fort Mitchell Avenue (the current “Iris Road Park”). It continued along that line and across the right-of-way that is evident on the map across Fort Mitchell Avenue, to and across West Maple and to the back of West Maple where the old Holiday Inn Hotel now stands (Exhibit “K”).

It then proceeded pretty much on a straight line across the hotel property and Interstates 71/75, neither of which existed back then. The exact route is not evident in that area but, as I said, it was pretty much a straight line, and I do remember that it came “out of the woods” immediately to the west of and immediately behind the old electric sub station that presently still stands at the end of the northbound I-71/75 exit ramp to the Dixie Highway (Exhibit “L”).
At this point the right-of-way for the streetcar lines was adjacent to the west side of the right-of-way of Dixie Highway. While the exact location is no longer evident from the utility substation to the south edge of the commercial development in front of the shopping center, the right-of-way and route for the remainder of the line from the shopping center to the turn-around immediately to the north of the Greyhound Tavern is very evident as the utility poles that separated the northbound tracks from the southbound tracks still exist (Exhibits “M-1”and “M-2”). The turn-around was located on what is now the property of the strip shopping center next to the Greyhound Tavern (Exhibit “N”).

The Fort Mitchell streetcars continued to operate until the summer or fall of 1951. In addition to the trips to Devou Park, there are some other personal memories I have of the streetcars as a youngster. The first is that, after entering the first grade in 1946, on rainy days my Mother would give me a nickel, the fare at the time, and I would take the streetcar from Woodlawn Avenue to the underpass at Burdsall Avenue and then take the underpass under the highway to Blessed Sacrament School. You have to remember that, unlike today, many families had no automobile back then, and they relied on the streetcar to get them wherever they wished to go.

I also remember sitting in the beer garden at the Greyhound with my parents on warm summer nights. At that time the Greyhound was only about half its size, and there was a beer garden with a fence around it located on what is now the property occupied by the rear of the restaurant. Midway along the north side of the garden there was a juke box or “nickelodeon”, and it was shielded from the elements by a wood structure slightly larger than the juke box, and it provided music for the garden. Some of the “highlights” of the evening were the streetcars that reached the “end of the line” and headed back to Cincinnati. (Things were a lot simpler back then!)

Another great memory was frequently going to 9 o’clock Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church with my maternal grandparents on Sundays, and then they would take me on the streetcar over to Mills’ Cafeteria in Cincinnati for breakfast. Mills was located on Fourth Street less than 100 feet to the west of the Fourth Street entrance (street level) of the Dixie Terminal building. And then we would take the streetcar back home. My Mother and I moved to Fort Mitchell with my grandparents in 1943 while my Father was in the Marines (he was drafted into the Marines at age 36 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor), and then in 1953 my grandparents sold our house to my parents and my grandparents moved into a smaller home on Garvey Avenue in Elsmere.

I also remember the various tricks the teenagers used to play on the streetcar conductors at times. When the streetcar was stopped to discharge or take on new passengers they would sneak up behind the streetcar and yank the trolley off the wires and the conductor would have to go back and reset the trolley. Another favorite trick was to grease the rails on the hills so the streetcars would have difficulty climbing the hills. Also, as kids we used to place pennies on the rails so that they would be flattened somewhat when the weight of the cars rolled over them. Of course, I was always reluctant to do so because I was afraid the pennies may cause the streetcars to jump the tracks and wreck. See, I wasn’t any smarter back then!

Public transportation by the Green Line, the company that operated the streetcars and buses at that time ended at the “end of the line” in Fort Mitchell. A small private company, the Dixie Traction Company, began providing bus service from the end-of-the-line in Fort Mitchell to the Erlanger and Florence areas. The bus barn for the Dixie Traction Company was located on the northeast corner of Dixie Highway and May Street in Elsmere. The Green Line eventually bought the Dixie Traction Company, and the bus barn in Elsmere was destroyed by a fire resulting from a gasoline explosion while a mechanic was working on a bus in the 1950s. The property was then developed as a “convenient store” for the old Feldman Dairy Company, the site now occupied by ………………………..

by Bill Goetz, December 2, 2007