Posted March 23, 200619 yr Springfield was the site of what might be the first railroad junction in Ohio, between the Mad River and Little Miami Railroads. The first railroad in Ohio, the Mad River & Lake Erie, started in Sandusky and was to run to Springfield and then Dayton, but Dayton backed out of investing in it , so it terminated in Springfield. Since Lake Erie is a long way from Springfield, the Little Miami (the second railroad in Ohio) reached town first (The LM was Cincinnati's first railroad). This is looking toward the site of the junction... Any Mark Knopfler/Dire Straights fans out there? A long time ago came a man on a track walking thirty miles with a pack on his back and he put down his load where he thought it was the best he made a home in the wilderness he built a cabin and a winter store and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore the other travellers came riding down the track and they never went further, no and they never went back then came the churches then came the schools then came the lawyers then came the rules then came the trains and the trucks with their loads and the dirty old track was the telegraph road Then came the mines - then came the ore then there was the hard times then there was a war telegraph sang a song about the world outside telegraph road got so deep and so wide like a rolling river. . . And my radio is saying tonight it's gonna freeze people driving home from the factories there's six lanes of traffic three lanes moving slow. . . I used to like to go to work but they shut it down I've got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed we're gonna have to reap from the seed that's been sowed and the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles they can always fly away from this rain and this cold you can here them singing out their telegraph code all the way down the telegraph road You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights when life was just a bet on a race between the lights you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care but believe in me baby and I'll take you away from out of this darkness and into the day from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain from the anger that lives on the streets with these names 'cos I've run every red light on memory lane I've seen desperation explode into flames and I don't want to see it again. . . From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed all the way down the telegraph road or how about the Specials? This town, is coming like a ghost town All the clubs have been closed down This place, is coming like a ghost town Bands won't play no more too much fighting on the dance floor Do you remember the good old days Before the ghost town? We danced and sang, And the music played inna de boomtown This town, is coming like a ghost town Why must the youth fight against themselves? Government leaving the youth on the shelf This place, is coming like a ghost town No job to be found in this country Can't go on no more The people getting angry ...and back to Dayton
March 24, 200619 yr But the courthouse is beautiful IMO! if you mean the richardson-romanesque building with the clock, that isn't the courthouse. it's the old city hall, which was moved to some 70's disaster... nice pics too!
March 24, 200619 yr At first glance, I thought the old city hall reminded me a lot of the Wells County Courthouse in Bluffton, Indiana. When I compare the two, though, I guess it's just a similarity in material and general architectural style. This photo dates to about 1962; since then, the tank has been replaced with a pine tree that has grown to obscure much of the view of the building from this angle.
March 24, 200619 yr rob, everything reminds you of the wells county courthouse! :) http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=743.0
March 24, 200619 yr Hey Rob, Is the gable on the right of your picture missing a matching spire? The absence of one drives me nuts! Another question, are those light poles still there today, or were they torn down, replace by copraheads, only to be replaced with something similar later on? This seeems to have been the trend in so many cities, at least in Ohio.
March 24, 200619 yr city is that? Springfield, and it is suprisingly photogenic. I used to think it was pretty blah, but am finding it more interesting. For more on industrial Springfield see my Haunted Factory thread. They are going to be tearing down a few blocks of older housing stock for a new hospital near downtown, so i am going to take some pix of the doomed neighborhood soon...stay tuned for some "old neighborhood" pix.
March 24, 200619 yr rob, everything reminds you of the wells county courthouse! :) http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=743.0 Silly me! I need to get out more; obviously, I don't have many reference points for comparison. Anyway, the tower in Springfield reminds me more than the one in Lancaster. And to carry the silliness further, part of Bluffton lies in Lancaster Township (but not the part where the courthouse is). Hey Rob, Is the gable on the right of your picture missing a matching spire? The absence of one drives me nuts! Another question, are those light poles still there today, or were they torn down, replace by copraheads, only to be replaced with something similar later on? This seeems to have been the trend in so many cities, at least in Ohio. No missing spire; it was designed that way. I think the near side of the gable has some sort of chimera. And yes, they "modernized" the street lighting less than a year after I took that photo; a little over 40 years later, they spent a bundle to replace the cobraheads with "historically appropriate" lighting that actually looks pretty nice.
March 25, 200619 yr While the old city hall is Richardsonion Romanesque style, if I am not mistaken, the Warder Public Library about three blocks away actually was designed by H.H. Richardson, or his firm.
March 25, 200619 yr Re: the neighborhood being removed for the hospital project.... While we arrived in the city after that decision had been made, last month we (Preservation Ohio) acquired salvage rights to all of those demolished properties. We are teeming up with the local Interfaith Council and Habitat for Humanity, and a portion of those proceeds will go into our pilot Ohio Heritage Neighborhood Program on South Fountain Avenue. Thomas
March 25, 200619 yr ^What does that mean, you are selling off pieces of the houses? BTW, make that pilot successful, and get to Hamilton.
March 25, 200619 yr Great thread. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
March 26, 200619 yr But the courthouse is beautiful IMO! if you mean the richardson-romanesque building with the clock, that isn't the courthouse. it's the old city hall, which was moved to some 70's disaster... Hmmm....well regardless, the building with the clock is a nice structure :)
March 26, 200619 yr Some more industry. This is near that urban renewal area... ..this old factory will be torn down, probably, for that new hospital. I think it used to be a feed mill This is just south of downtwon. Not sure what it was.
March 27, 200619 yr "^What does that mean, you are selling off pieces of the houses?" You betcha... we acquired the complete salvage rights for all houses and commercial buildings that will be demolished for the hospital project... so anything that we can remove and sell, we will. And an FYI on the factory complex that is pictured after the caption, "Some more industry. This is near that urban renewal area" -- that complex was recently purchased by a civic-minded local foundation that intends to preserve all of it.
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