Lane Library Historical Collection - Cummins Room Holdings

Transportation Timelines
compiled by Cincinnati Regional Transportation History Committee

The goal of the Cincinnati Regional Transportation History Committee (CRTHC) is to compile a comprehensive history of transportation in the region since 1788. Its purpose is to trace the important role of transportation in the settlement and development of Cincinnati and surrounding Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana areas. The task has started with compilation of timelines for various forms of transportation.

The timelines track the evolution of transportation from Indian trails, horseback, pack teams, animal-powered wagons, carriages and stagecoaches to flatboats, canalboats, steamboats, steam and diesel powered railroads. People and goods have been conveyed in trucks, streetcars, buses and open cockpit and propeller-powered planes to jets.

Rivers were prime in ending the isolation of the frontier and establishing the economy of the Cincinnati region. From the use of natural waterways, progress has included man-made canals, locks, dams, bridges, tunnels, inclines, viaducts and aqueducts.

Rutted dirt streets and roads -- maintained by local residents or private turnpike companies -- have advanced to ribbons of pavement, planned and financed by governments. Transportation changes -- some privately developed, others supported by government -- have sought ways to haul more people and freight from residences, farms and factories for longer distances and at increased speed with improved efficiency and safety.

The following timelines have been developed by volunteers with a combination of expertise, experience and interest in the various modes of transportation that have been the basis for social patterns and economic activity in the Greater Cincinnati area.

About the Timelines
One of the first products of this committee’s efforts is a comprehensive Transportation History Timeline in which 29 individual transportation timelines, called prime timelines, can be used to study any transportation mode’s history, or be merged with others for study purposes, to look at subgroups, and to even look at all of them together as one comprehensive transportation history.

That timeline structure is shown here: PDF file / Excel File.

You’ll note that 18 of the 29 prime timelines are shown in green as complete. That means they contain all information currently known by the historians working on them. However, nothing in history is ever really complete. One benefit of this website is that you, the users, can help by providing information not heretofore known by the committee historians. OR by sending corrections when needed.

Six other prime timelines – Aviation, Canals, Rivers, Stage coaches (STGCO), Ohio Bus Lines (OBL) and Greyhound/Trailways (GHTR) – are under development. If you have any information in these areas, please send them to crthc@lanepl.org and the information will be forwarded to the history committee.

Five other prime timelines have not yet begun. They include Trucks (operations on roads), Hamilton transit systems (HCL), smaller transit systems like St. Bernard, etc. (SMTRN), Taxis, and early public transportation systems (ERLSYS) like Colonial Stages, Price Hill Coach Line, etc. Any volunteers to work on these?? Any information to share? Again, contact crthc@lanepl.org.

There are eight merged timelines. Entries are not made directly into these; their data come from mergers of prime timelines and/or other merged timelines below them. For example, Interurban BUS is a merger of Ohio Bus Lines (OBL), Greyhound/Trailways (GHTR) and other early bus transportation systems (ERLSYS). Then, that merged timeline can be merged with RAIL (interurban rail like C&LE) and STGCO (stage coaches) to produce another merged timeline, INTS (all interurban systems).

Meanwhile, running parallel to INTS is the railroad area. It consists of nine prime timelines covering the seven traditional Class 1 railroads in the area + regional railroads (REGRR) and general railroad data (GENRR) that don’t fall in the other eight areas. These nine prime timelines are then merged into RRS which shows all railroad activity in one massive timeline. Then, this merged timeline is merged with the Cincinnati Union Terminal timeline (CUT) and the INTS (all interurban systems) merged timeline to become the RRINT (Railroads & Interurbans) merged timeline.

So, jump in and enjoy! As stated earlier, we welcome comments, questions, corrections, new information, etc. Just send your email to crthc@lanepl.org and it will be forwarded to the proper members of the Transportation History Committee.