The OES visited the Groveport Interurban Line
on October 8, 2002. Completed in 1904 as part of the Scioto Valley Traction
Line, this electric railroad opened Groveport to new residents and offered
current residents freedom to travel in a timely manner to surrounding towns,
creating the suburbs of Columbus. When the village council was planning the
route for the interurban line, they decided to place the tracks on the less
traveled Blacklick Street, instead of Main Street. Their reasoning was that with
the less traveled road, there would be fewer dangers to traffic. The first
passenger car passed through Groveport on a trip from Columbus to Canal
Winchester on July 16, 1904. The car could reach an amazing speed of 62 MPH and
took as little as five minutes to get to Canal Winchester from Groveport. The
line connected Columbus, Groveport, Canal Winchester, Carroll, Lancaster,
Ashville, Circleville, Kingston, Chillicothe, and other local points. The
traction line ceased operation in 1930 when automobiles and buses make it
obsolete. A portion of the line remained in use as a coal transport line from
Groveport to the Pickaway Power Plant until the mid-1950s, when the entire line
was abandoned. Today, the traction line remains embedded in the bricks of
Blacklick Street, standing as a reminder of what helped build Columbus' suburbs.
| Location Information: Public Roadway |
| The Groveport Interurban Line is located along Blacklick Street in Groveport; Franklin County. |
| Photographs |
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