Editing Norwood, Ohio (section)

===Railroads and subdivisions===
Despite the initial interest in Norwood generated by the arrival of the [[Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad]], the new subdivisions were premature and failed to immediately take off. Only one home, located on the hill east of [[Norwood Mound]], was constructed in the Norwood Heights subdivision.<ref name="Historical Dates for Norwood, Ohio. 1870s" /> Norwood still remained largely farmland and orchards throughout the 1870s. Although the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad provided transportation to Cincinnati, it was via an inconvenient circuitous route which followed the [[Mill Creek (Ohio)|Millcreek]] several miles out of the way to the west.

In 1875, several prominent local property owners in Norwood approached the Lebanon Narrow-gauge Railway Company (later known as the [[Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway]]) to discuss building a passenger railroad between Norwood and downtown Cincinnati. The property owners offered their land to the railroad for use as free right-of-way.<ref name="Transportation in Norwood" /> The railroad agreed and began to lay tracks from the northeast to southwest through Norwood and [[Avondale, Cincinnati|Avondale]] in the late-1870s.

[[File:CL&N Hopkins Avenue depot.jpg|thumb|left|The Hopkins Avenue Station in the early-1890s. This building still stands at 4226 Montgomery Road.]]

Around the same time, construction was started on another railroad, the [[Cincinnati and Eastern Railway]], which was built west to east along the present-day border of Norwood and [[Evanston, Cincinnati|Evanston]]. The tracks continued along Wasson Road in [[Hyde Park, Cincinnati|Hyde Park]], connecting Norwood with Cincinnati's eastern suburbs and ultimately [[Portsmouth, Ohio]]. This line merged with the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern line southwest of Norwood at Idlewild, which was the name for the area near the present day campus of [[Xavier University]].<ref name="Transportation in Norwood"/>

In 1881, the northern section of the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern opened, connecting Norwood with [[Lebanon, Ohio|Lebanon]]. In 1882, the southern section opened, providing service from Norwood directly to the central downtown station. Later in the year, the Cincinnati and Eastern Railway opened, providing passenger service from Norwood to Hyde Park and beyond.<ref name="Transportation in Norwood" />

The arrival of the passenger railroad proved to be the catalyst for rapid population growth in Norwood, as Cincinnatians could now work downtown and commute to their homes in the suburbs. Travel time between Norwood and downtown was less than 20 minutes.<ref name="Transportation in Norwood" />

Within a few years after the opening of the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern, five train stations were constructed in Norwood along the route. These were Idlewild, Ivanhoe, Hopkins, Norwood Park, and East Norwood.<ref name="B&O to Columbus, Ohio">{{cite web|url=http://www.cincyrails.com/bocolumbus.htm |title=B&O to Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Railroads of Cincinnati |access-date=20 March 2016}}</ref>

[[File:East Norwood Passenger Train Station Norwood Ohio Near Forest Avenue And Harris Avenue 1894.jpg|thumb|Commuters wait on a bench on the platform of the East Norwood train station near the southwest corner of Forest Avenue and Harris Avenue in 1894. The newly constructed Norwood Water Works Pump House is visible behind the station. The passenger station provided service for the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad as well as the [[Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway]], which was the commuter line between Norwood and downtown Cincinnati. The station likely ended passenger service in the 1920s and was destroyed by a fire in late-May 2000.]]