Tracking down North Baltimore's railroad history

NORTH BALTIMORE — Visitors can now learn about the history of the railroads that ran through the area when they walk the Slippery Elm Trail in North Baltimore. Through a cooperative effort between the North Baltimore Ohio Area Historical Society and the Wood County Park District, two historical markers have been installed at the terminus of the trail just off East Broadway Street. One sign traces the local history of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton (CH&D) Railroad that once ran along the corridor which is now the trail. The other marker recounts the history of the oil boom railroads in the area. "The railroads have had quite a history in North Baltimore. And of course today you have that big rail yard out there, so they've always been an integral part," said Tom Boltz, referring to the CSX Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal located a few miles west of North Baltimore on Ohio 18. Boltz said the idea to erect the markers was suggested after former North Baltimore resident Greg Trout made a donation to the historical society. Now living in Virginia, Boltz is still a member of the organization and also researched and wrote the text for the markers. He talked to Margaret Bobb and others on the society's board of directors, and they decided to fund historical markers that would help educate visitors about North Baltimore's history. "And since the Slippery Elm Trail ends down there and a lot of people come to town to use that trail, we thought that would be a good place to start," said Boltz. They proposed the idea to the Wood County Park District, which owns and maintains the Slippery Elm Trail, a 13-mile rails-to-trails bike path that runs between Bowling Green and North Baltimore. "Basically, we financed the purchase of the markers, and then the Wood County park authority, they provided the labor to install them," said Boltz. "And of course, the markers become their property in a sense, and they're supposed to maintain the area around them." Boltz said the CH&D Railroad built a passenger station on East Broadway after completing its track from Bowling Green in 1891. Since North Baltimore had no turntable, locomotives had to run in reverse to return to Bowling Green where they could be turned around. The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad purchased the line in 1917. The old CH&D track was connected to the B&O mainline by the following year, Boltz said. This line carried passenger and freight trains to Toledo and Detroit until the early 1970s, though none of these trains stopped in North Baltimore. The line was abandoned in 1976. The park district purchased the line from CSX transportation in 1992. The trail was constructed in 1995 and named for the Slippery Elm logs that had been used to build the original rails. For the other marker, Boltz concentrated on the three railroads that served the Wood County community during the oil boom period from 1884 to 1915. These include the B&O, which reached the area in 1873; the Toledo & Ohio Central (T&OC), which came through Galatea a mile east of North Baltimore in 1883; and the CH&D, which entered town on a branch line from Bowling Green. These railroads provided North Baltimore and the neighboring communities with passenger train service in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With the decline of the local oil fields in the early 1900s, all three railroads saw a steady reduction in business and gradually reduced their local train service, Boltz said. The T&CO merged with the New York Central System in 1922. The CH&D was acquired by the B&O which eventually joined with other railroads and is now part of the CSX system. The B&O depot still stands at the corner of East State and South Main streets in downtown North Baltimore, according to Boltz. "Railroad history can get complicated because they get sold and they change names," he said. "The roadbed might be the same and the station might be the same. And a lot of times, the people are the same. It's just the names change." There are still funds available from Trout's donation, and the historical society plans to ask village officials about placing at least two other markers in town. Topics would include the oil boom days and the great fire of 1891, which destroyed 49 major buildings and 76 businesses on North Main Street. Wolf: 419-427-8494