The year is 1854, and we’re traveling north on the Little Miami Railroad. The conductor hands us a Railroad Guide, and opens it to the page describing Morrow:

"MORROW is 36 miles from Cincinnati, and 28 from Xenia. Morrow is one of the Railroad creations. It had no existence whatever, when the Railway commenced business. Now, it is a thriving and quite a well built village, with, according to the census [1850], 458 inhabitants—but many more now; for it has much improved in the last three years. Morrow is well situated, at the mouth of Todd's Fork of the Little Miami, which, rising on the plain of Clinton county (to the east) becomes here a considerable stream. You cross it near by, on a handsome wooden bridge. But Morrow will become a much larger place; for it has another advantage. It is at the intersection with the Little Miami Railroad, of the Wilmington, Circleville, and Zanesville Railroad—one of the most important lines of Railway in the country.”

The picture on the page is a view of Morrow, looking from the east, and includes the bridge over Todd's Fork. Today we cross that bridge, now made of sturdy steel, by foot or bicycle on our trail. As we continue east beside the Little Miami River, we travel through a landscape that has not changed much since the 1800s. Back then, according to an 1852 description, “The country on either side of this [rail]road, and bordering this river, is beautiful—undulating—luxuriant. The products of agriculture are continually increasing, under the beneficial influence of this road—which by affording a means of speedily obtaining a ready and certain market, has advanced many hundred fold the price of land—added many hundred fold to the number of the population, and is now by reaction, reaping the advantage by continual increase of way freight and passengers.”

Below is another engraving from the railroad’s early days, showing a curve in the railroad between Morrow and Fort Ancient.

The present-day village of Morrow is proud of its railroad heritage and has preserved its railway station and also displays a railroad car that traveled the route of our trail when it was operated by Penn Central. Below is an old postcard of a Penn Central train on Railroad Street (now Main Street) in Morrow.

Traveling the trail between Foster and Loveland, you may have often passed the Ohio Historical Marker at the location of Butterworth Station, and looked across the field to the house where the Butterworth family hid slaves and transported them to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Now another part of that history has been marked along our trail.

Between 1820 and 1850 hundreds of runaway slaves were guided out of Cincinnati through Warren County by Underground Railroad conductors. One of the most unlikely but devoted conductors was Lawry Rankin, a 20-year-old student at Lane Seminary who began conducting a month after he arrived on campus in 1836.  Asked to take a runaway slave hidden in the free black community to the home of William Butterworth right away as a $500 reward had been offered for his capture and several parties were hunting him down, Lawry consented even though he was told he had to wade across the Little Miami River to get there.

This story was uncovered by Dr. Karen Dinsmore of Friends of the Twenty Mile House during her research that led to the placement in 2015 of the Butterworth Station historical marker. When she learned that conductors bringing runaway slaves to the Butterworths had to cross the river, she wondered where that fording location might be. Recently FLMSP volunteer Don Hahn, also a member of the Friends of the Twenty Mile House, set out to find that location with the goal of placing a marker there. Last month that goal was reached as Don and fellow volunteers Dan Kindel and Jerry York installed a wooden marker behind the three benches near mile 39.5, about a quarter mile south of the Butterworth Station marker. With wood donated by Dr. Dinsmore, etching done by Don’s cycling buddy Richard Cocks, and the support of ODNR, the marker represents a real community effort that promotes the rich history along our trail. We think Lawry Rankin and the nearly 300 runaway slaves he helped ford the river would be pleased.

Note: One of the slaves who passed through Butterworth Station was Josiah Henson, whose 1849 autobiography is believed to be the inspiration for the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. More about the Butterworths

Thanks to Dr. Karen Dinsmore for her contributions to this article.

November 2022

Photo, L to R: Bruce Cortright, John Telintelo, Mike Dresch, Fritz Buschmann, Bill Brown

There’s little chance the historic Little Miami Railroad will return to service, but it may seem that way as train signal towers are restored with replica signal lights on the south end of the trail. 

Bruce Cortright and his South Maintenance Crew have completed the restoration of another tower on the trail near the new Moeller Athletic fields in Miamisville. The previous restoration was done on the tower near Terrace Park. 

This job took a little more pre-work, more scaffolding and more help to complete. The foundation for the scaffolding was set up a week in advance and it took three sections of scaffolding to reach the signal lights 20 feet high.  Five members of the FLMSP South Maintenance Crew were on hand to do the job. Many of the crew spent the morning answering questions from curious trail riders and walkers. 

The signal tower, 50 to 100 years old, is original. The lights on the replica signal face are not functional, but a former engineer on the railroad informed the crew what the original lights signified:

     3 vertical lights:  Safe to proceed
     3 diagonal lights: Proceed with caution
     3 horizontal lights: Stop, track occupied ahead

There are no plans to bring the trains back, but these signals help retain some of the railroad ambiance along the trail. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the steam whistle of a train from 100 years ago.

Article by Bill Brown

November 2022