Moment in Time (February 24, 2022)
Transportation in Columbus made a distinct advance in 1863 with the introduction of the streetcar, a passenger car that ran on rails installed in the streets of the city. The earliest streetcars were called horsecars, because they were pulled by horses, usually in a team of two. In late 1887 and early 1888, the horsecars were phased out, replaced by electric powered streetcars. According to the website columbusrailroads.com, “in 1892 a new and larger streetcar system would emerge. Several new east-west streetcar lines east of High Street would be built providing a streetcar within a short walking distance for most Columbus residents. The electric service was faster and more frequent compared to the horsecar days.
The Arlington Line of Columbus' streetcar system started at Town Street in downtown Columbus, and initially ended at Fifth and Arlington in Marble Cliff. The car is shown at the bottom at the stop on Fifth, with the Lanman mansion at 2015 West Fifth in the background. Two tickets (east and west of the Goodale bridge) are also shown.
The most prominent company that ran the early streetcars was the Columbus Consolidated Street Railroad Co. With the 1892 introduction, the operating company was reorganized as the Columbus Street Railway Company. The following year the streetcar company joined with the electric light business to become Columbus Railway & Light Company, later renamed the Columbus Railway, Power & Light Company. (In 1937 that company became known as the Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company.)
Significant expansion of the streetcar service took place over the next decade, and in 1901 a line was established to serve the wealthy industrialists who were building homes in the new Hamlet of Marble Cliff. (One of these residents was Butler Sheldon, who served as President of Columbus Railway & Light Company. His father Robert Sheldon was President and Director of Columbus Street Railway Company.) This extension of the streetcar line across the Goodale Bridge contributed significantly to the development of the Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff communities. The line from downtown to the Tri-Village area, called the Arlington Line, travelled from Town Street in the center of Columbus, along Goodale Blvd, up the Broadview Hill, west on First Avenue, and north on Arlington Avenue to Fifth Avenue on rails installed in the center of the streets.
From a 1908 publication, The Homebuilder, the following excerpt appeared: "...the run from Grandview Heights to the center of the city [Columbus] takes less than twenty minutes. The cars on the line are among the best in the service of the Columbus Railway and Light Company. The fare is five cents, with transfers to any part of the city, on any of the other lines operated by the Company." The Arlington Line was popular with Tri-Village residents because of access to downtown businesses and shopping, and provided easy access for workers in downtown to the new community. The image at the bottom, circa 1915, shows the Arlington car at the end of the line, with the Lanman mansion (which can be viewed on the free HistoryWalks app) at 2015 West Fifth in the background.
Two tickets (top and middle) were required for a round trip. One was used to travel west of the Goodale bridge, another for the part of the trip on the east side. Rides originally cost five cents, but were raised to 7 cents not long after the line was opened, and strips of tickets could be purchased for a quarter. These tiny, original Arlington Line tickets (the penny is to compare the size) are from the Alleyne Higgs Jones collection and were donated to the GH/MCHS by her daughter Jeanne.
The Arlington line was extended along Coventry tp Parkway in Upper Arlington on new track in 1930. The streetcar operation changed from the electric rail service to bus operation citywide beginning in 1935, and the last car on the Arlington Line was on March 22, 1936. The rails were vacated and eventually removed from the streets.