BROADWAY & NEWBURGH STREET RAILROAD CO. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

The BROADWAY & NEWBURGH STREET RAILROAD CO. (chartered on 26 Aug. 1873) began service on Christmas Day, 1873, providing transportation for workers of the Newburgh steel mills, running from Woodland Ave., where it met with other lines, east on Broadway to the Newburgh city limits. A double track horsecar line, the Broadway & Newburgh initially provided competition for the CLEVELAND & NEWBURGH "DUMMY" RAILROAD which ceased operation in 1877. The line also established a route on Union Ave. and by 1879 had expanded its system to 19 cars and 86 horses.

The 6-mile line began preparing for electrification in 1890 by converting to the Sprague overhead trolley system. Sixteen Brill electric motor cars with trailers were then purchased for the newly electrified system, and part of the line's horse stable was made into a powerhouse. The Broadway & Newburgh merged with the East Cleveland and Brooklyn & South Side St. railways on 15 May 1893, creating the CLEVELAND ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO., or "Big Consolidated." It was controlled by HENRY EVERETT†, who later became one of the principals of the EVERETT†-MOORE† syndicate, a moving force in the development of interurban systems in the Midwest.

Greater Cleveland RTA Records, WRHS.

Christiansen, Harry. Trolley Trails through Greater Cleveland and Northern Ohio (1975).

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