On December 14, 1841, a new era dawned in southwestern Ohio. The steam locomotive, Governor Morrow, belching black smoke from its stack, sped along the wooden rails at the blinding speed of six miles per hour. The thirty-six passengers who rode in two open wagons, were thrilled with the 50 cent ticket price from Cincinnati to Milford. A reporter for the Cincinnati Gazette exuded that the trip was "... joyous in the extreme". He must have overlooked the hour delay caused by a landslide, the cold temperature, and the fiery sparks from the engine cascading down upon the unprotected passengers.
The reporter appreciated the historical importance of the trip. He wrote,"We felt strongly, as we whirled along at a rapid pace, what a change a few years had used in this glorious west". What had been just a few years before a wilderness inhabited by Indians was now "a garden".
The Little Miami Railroad was chartered by the state of Ohio in 1836 to run between Cincinnati and Springfield. Shares of the new company sold for $50.00 each. Mathias Kugler invested $10,000 upon the condition that the tracks run to his mills in Germany (Camp Dennison).The railroad happily agreed to its latest investor's demand.
Ormsby Mitchell, a young astronomy professor at Cincinnati College, was hired to survey the route. He stayed on as the construction engineer. Irish immigrants, who settled in the Hamilton County portion of Milford known as Montauk, were hired to build the road. Mitchell oversaw the construction of an elevated section of the road to avoid some wetlands in Germany. A bridge spanning the Little Miami River at Miamiville was added in 1842. (Mitchell founded the Cincinnati Astronomical Observatory on Mt. Adams and later became a major general in the Union Army. Fort Mitchell, Kentucky was named for him.)
The railroad transformed the area. Farmers were able to more easily get their crops to the Cincinnati markets. Those farmers drove their pigs-grunting, squealing, and defecating-through the dirt streets of Milford, across the Little Miami River to the train depot for shipment to "Porkopolis" (Cincinnati). Residents, including future Ohio Governor John Pattison, rode their horses to the depot's corrals and then boarded the train for their daily commute to Cincinnati.
In 1854 New England transplant Edward Mansfield published an illustrated guide book to traveling the "road" from Cincinnati to Erie, Pennsylvania. The narrative begins with a description of the railroad's Cincinnati depot. According to Mansfield, the building covered an acre and could easily accommodate 10,000 people. Just beyond the depot was Tusculum with a peach grove and vineyards crowning the hill. The scene reflected the prevailing attitude of the time that "The earth must be cultivated".
The train passed by the early settlement of Columbia where Lunken airport is now located. Mansfield informs us at this point in the trip, "The cars are flying on, and we must hasten". Though the Little Miami Valley is "cultivated", he describes expansive forests of oak, sugar maple, buckeye and pawpaw. Mansfield noted the train sped through Plainville, writing "there is nothing peculiar about it".
Milford, then a village of 600 people and five miles down the road, caught Mansfield's fancy. He described it as "a very interesting place". From the depot, he looked across the river to the village, and saw church spires and schools. The Kugler Mill and distillery dominated the scene: "Next to the mill and distillery are long sheds sheltering hogs which feed from the used up corn mash." Just outside the village, "there is a dam over the Miami which furnishes a very pretty waterfall". Leaving Milford, the road passed through Germany, Miamiville, and Loveland.
The railroad rose to prominence during the Civil War era. President-elect Abraham Lincoln cruised down the track at thirty-five miles per hour, stopping briefly at Milford and Miamiville, on his journey to Washington, D.C . The train, with its double tracks, served a vital role in the war effort, transporting men and material to and from the front. One soldier wrote to his family that he counted 28 trains passing by daily, with nine stopping at the camp. The road served the civilians as well, charging just 25 cents per round-trip from Cincinnati.
On July 14, 1863, John Hunt Morgan and his 2300 raiders barricaded the railroad track near Camp Dennison, causing the onrushing train to derail. The wreck killed the fireman and caused $10,000 in damages. His men dismounted. They attempted to set the bridge on fire, but were repulsed by the Loveland militia and the camp's Convalescent Corps. Four months later Morgan escaped from the Ohio State Penitentiary, riding through Camp Dennison on his way to Kentucky.
The old railroad has been repurposed into the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail, more commonly known as the Loveland Bike Trail. Thousands of people walk, bike, roller blade, run or ride horseback every weekend. Few know the romance and history embedded in every mile of this unique park.
