Monday, July 17, 2000
An ode to Ohio's roads, rails, rivers
Book reveals history of transportation
By Randy McNutt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If you've heard of the Cino, the Ohio 40-A and the roundhouse, you know something about early transportation in the Buckeye State.
The Cino and 40-A were early automobiles built in Cincinnati. The roundhouse was operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Cincinnati.
They're all featured in a new book about transportation history. With help from the Ohio Bicentennial Com mission, Ohio University Press recently published Ohio on the Move: Transportation in the Buckeye State, by H. Roger Grant.
It's the first book in the Ohio Bicentennial Series, which over the next three years will provide a comprehensive picture of the state's development.
“At first, we thought about publishing several books in the series, but now it looks like it will be 10,” said Sharon Arnold of Ohio University Press. “And if we continue to get good manuscripts, we'll go on. There's a wealth of information about Ohio.”
She described Mr. Grant, chair and professor of history at Clemson University in South Carolina, as “a strong name in railroad history across the country. We were lucky that he had an Ohio connection.”
His book includes stories about Ohio's intercity bus and truck operations, commercial aviation, river and lake transport, canals, steam railroads, electric interurbans and mass transit systems.
“For a noncoastal state,” Mr. Grant said, “nature has generously engendered transport in Ohio. Two water bodies have bolstered the state's overall economic health: Lake Erie provides convenient access from points along the Great Lakes to northern localities, and the Ohio River, part of the giant Ohio-Mississippi system, gives entrance to southern localities.”
His book also is laced with old photographs — the Ohio 40-A automobile, built in Cincinnati, is featured prominently on the book's frontispiece.
Other photos include images of the canals, lake freighters, numerous trains and electric cars.
Mr. Grant, who once taught college in Ohio, is no stranger to transportation. He has written 20 books — 12 of them on the subject.
And Clarence E. Wunderlin Jr., editor of the Ohio Bicentennial Series, is an associate professor of history at Kent State University.
By publishing the series, Ohio University and the Bicentennial Commission hope to explore the state's varied culture and history, Ms. Arnold said.
Tentative future titles include: Documentary Heritage of Ohio, Ohio Political and Social Humor, Women in Ohio History, Historic Indians of Ohio, Governors of Ohio, Ohio: A Pictorial History, Ohio Utopian Communities, Ohio's Underground Railroad and Ohio Migration and Immigration.
“It's a significant and worthy project that people will learn from and have a little fun with while they're doing it,” said Brian Newbacher, spokesman for the Bicentennial Commission.
For more information, call
Ohio University Press at
(740) 593-1154. A cloth-bound
book costs $36; paperback,
$17.95.
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