Description: Caption reads: "Five Avenues of Transportation South of Dayton – The Steam Train, the Electric Traction Cars, Canal Boat, Macadamized Turnpike, and Miami River. October 22, 1911." At the start of the nineteenth century, Ohio was isolated geographically. The Appalachian Mountains on the east, Lake Erie to the north, and the Ohio River to the south, isolated the state from its neighbors. During the nineteenth century, new transportation systems formed, granting Ohioans easier access to all parts of the United States of America. In the first decades of the 1800s, turnpikes originated. Water travel became easier with the advent of steamboats. Beginning in the 1820s, canals provided Ohioans with a cheaper and faster form of travel. In the 1840s and 1850s, railroads emerged, allowing Ohio residents to ship their products to market much more easily and quickly. With the start of the twentieth century, several new transportation systems, including automobiles, trucks, and airplanes, emerged. From Zane's Trace, to the Ohio and Erie Canal, to the Wright brothers, Ohioans were at the forefront of all of these transportation innovations. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F07_018_1
Subjects: Canals--Ohio; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Dayton (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Railroads; Roads; Geography and Natural Resources; Transportation--Ohio--History.; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows an Interurban Electric Railway station in downtown Columbus. Stations like this were the places where people would go to travel to other neighborhoods with a degree of convenience and a much lower price than other forms of transportation. They remained popular until the invention of another practical form of transportation that rapidly took hold, the first modern cars. Eventually this particular form of transportation was overtaken and put out of business. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06757
Subjects: Railroad stations Ohio; Railroad terminals--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio--History
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Ohio
 

Description: This image shows an Interurban Electric Railway station in downtown Columbus. Stations like this were the places where people would go to travel to other neighborhoods with a degree of convenience and a much lower price than other forms of transportation. They remained popular until the invention of another practical form of transportation that rapidly took hold, the first modern cars. Eventually this particular form of transportation was overtaken and put out of business. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06773
Subjects: Railroad stations Ohio; Railroad terminals--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio--History
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Ohio
 

Description: Panoramic photograph taken a few miles south of Dayton, Ohio, where the river, canal, interurban and railway lines and the Cincinnati pike all run parallel for a short distance, ca. 1910-1919. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02993
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: In the early twentieth century, Cincinnati was linked to a number of other major cities through its rail lines. Union Terminal, a single railroad terminal, was developed to provide service for all passenger and freight lines entering the city. Construction began in the 1920s on the art deco style structure that was designed by architects Alfred Fellheimer and Stewart Wagner. Finished on March 31, 1933, Union Terminal had the largest half-dome in the world at the time. Even today it is the largest half-dome in the Western hemisphere. The artwork associated with Union Terminal was as amazing as the physical structure. Maxfield Keck designed bas-relief figures that represented Commerce and Transportation to flank the main doors. Winold Reiss, a German-born artist, designed murals made from glass mosaic tiles to decorate the interior of the terminal. The art deco style murals illustrate the United States' transportation history, different types of work in the United States, and Cincinnati history. Most of the murals were placed within the main entry of the terminal, but additional murals, portraying major Cincinnati businesses, were located in the concourse. The concourse was torn down in the 1970s, and these murals were relocated to the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati International Airport. Another artist, Pierre Bourdelle, created a mural at the entrance of the women's lounge. After success as a train terminal throughout the 1930s and 1940s, competition from automobiles and passenger airline service led to a decline in use of the terminal. By 1972, the last train service to Union Terminal ended. After a failed attempt in 1980 to turn Union Terminal into a shopping mall, the building was opened once again in November 1990 and was known as the Museum Center. The renovated Union Terminal now houses the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science, the Cincinnati History Museum, the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, the Cinergy Children's Museum, and an OMNIMAX theater. Amtrak began offering passenger train service to Union Terminal beginning in 1991. Union Terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 1972. Its significance as one of the few remaining large art deco terminals meant that it also became a National Historic Landmark in 1977. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06018
Subjects: Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development; Railroad terminals--Ohio; Architecture--Ohio; Photography--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm) photograph of Coshocton, Ohio, shows the Ohio and Erie Canal (foreground) and the Waldhoning River in the background. The Ohio and Erie Canal was built to connect Lake Erie at Cleveland with the Ohio River at Portsmouth to provide transportation and promote the state's economic development. Construction began in 1825, and the canal was officially opened between Cleveland and Akron on July 4, 1827. The canal was 308 miles long and required 146 locks. After 1850, canal use and maintenance declined as the use of railroad transportation increased. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3004_3627093_001
Subjects: Transportation; Geography and Natural Resources; Canals
Places: Coshocton (Ohio); Coshocton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This map of the state of Ohio shows "a System of State Highways for Military Motor Movements and the Cities and Towns Co-operating with the State Highway Patrol to Co-ordinate Civilian and Military Movements." It provides a view of the transportation system of Ohio just before the building of the interstate highway system. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAPVFM0094_4
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development; Ohio State Highway Patrol; Roads--United States--History; Express highways
Places: Ohio
 

Description: This map shows both electric and steam railways in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Although we often think of electric railways as being simply for transportation within a city, in fact they were important links in the transportation network between cities as well. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAPVFM0065_4
Subjects: Electric railroads; Railroads--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio--History; Great Lakes (North America); Maps;
Places: Ohio; Indiana; Michigan
 

Description: This map shows the number of automobiles per day that traveled Ohio's roadways. 1932-1933. More heavily-traveled roads are represented as thicker lines and less-traveled roads as thinner lines. This traffic volume is an indicator of the growing urbanization of Ohio, and also shows how Ohioans were beginning to turn to the automobile as their primary form of transportation. The full title of the map is "Map of Ohio Showing the Volume and Character of Motor Traffic on the State Highway System, 1932-1933." Insets are provided showing the cities of Cincinnati, Dayton, Springfield, Columbus, Toledo, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron and their vicinities. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAPVFM0107_2
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development; Roads--United States--History; Express highways; Traffic
Places: Ohio
 

Description: This photograph, taken in the 1960s, documents the "See Ohio First" exhibit at the Vinton County Fair. The exhibit promoted Ohio as "Transportation Center of the World" with signs reading "First in Industry," and "One in Five Persons Employed in Ohio Work in Fields Related to Highways." The fair is held at the Vinton County Fairgrounds near McArthur, Ohio. The photograph is 2.75" x 2.75" (6.99 x 6.99 cm). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3053_3656294_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Transportation; Expositions and fairs
Places: McArthur (Ohio); Vinton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This engraving shows an early type of steamboat that applies the basic principles of steam locomotion to water transportation. First developed and patented in the 1700s, steamboats were an important means of transportation in the United States during the 19th century, moving goods and people on rivers, lakes, and canals. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC181_01
Subjects: Steamboats; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development; Rivers; Boats and boating;
 

Description: This image is a reproduction of a photograph of Nimmick's Coal Mine on the Ohio and Erie Canal in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, ca. 1890. Visible in this image are three canal boats, a structure overlooking the canal that rests on a foundation of tall stilts, and a chute that leads from the structure's floor down to the canal's edge. The Ohio and Erie Canal was one of Ohio's most important canals during the mid-nineteenth century. Farmers and business owners would be able to transport their products much more easily and cheaply with canals rather than turnpikes. Canals would also possibly open up new markets for Ohio goods. In 1822 the Ohio legislature created a new Ohio Canal Commission, which eventually recommended two routes: a route that started at Lake Erie, passing through the Cuyahoga Valley, the Muskingum Valley, the Licking Valley, and then to the Ohio River along the Scioto Valley (Ohio and Erie Canal) and a western route along the Miami and Maumee Valleys (Miami and Erie Canal). In 1825 the Ohio legislature approved both routes, and work began immediately. Beginning in Cleveland the Ohio-Erie Canal ran south, the length of the state, to Portsmouth. The canal was a total of 308 miles long, 40 feet wide at the surface, and 4 feet deep. The Ohio-Erie Canal opened for traffic along its entire length in 1832 and consequently effected great change. Population along the canal increased, and commercial, political, and industrial growth in Ohio boomed. Products grown and manufactured in this previously isolated region now had access to world markets. Profits for farmers and merchants increase, and the entire state economy was bolstered. With the rise of railroads in the 1860s, however, canals were destined to become obsolete because the railroad was a faster and more dependable means of transportation. The canal system ceased to operate altogether after a disastrous flood in 1913. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06111
Subjects: Ohio and Erie Canal (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio); Canals--Ohio--History--19th century; Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Tuscarawas County (Ohio)