newsnot
294 posts
May 17, 2012
5:46 PM
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Where did Ohio Bus Lines run to from Dayton?
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fishers1951
32 posts
May 17, 2012
9:07 PM
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My Grandma used to take us on the trolley from Fairview HS area to downtown and then catch a bus - I think it was a red bus - that went out to Trotwood. I think we caught it somewhere near the Arcade.She did this every Wednesday to go to church quilting bee. Was that an Ohio bus line?
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Calhoun
26 posts
May 18, 2012
2:04 PM
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There was a bus that ran between Dayton and Xenia as well, at least through the early/mid 70s. Used to catch it in rural Beavercreek.
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RIVERDALE RAT
573 posts
Jun 15, 2014
10:55 PM
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newsnot.. Miami Valley Bus lines was the red and white busses that you guys are talking about and yes it was AN Ohio bus line (Meaning they were local from right there in Dayton) , But they were NOT THE Ohio Bus Lines. In my era the Miami Valley Bus Company only had lines serving Brookville/Trotwood --Spinning Hills--Page Manor and Xenia.
If one didn't know better, they would hear of the 'Ohio Bus Lines 'and probably assume that they were statewide, they were NOT. As for your question of where the Ohio Bus Lines served from Dayton, they served numerous places. They used to serve a ton of little towns between Dayton and Cincy. Moraine City, Franklin, Miamisburg, Oxford, Lebanon, Middletown, Hamilton, Blue Ball, Gano, Maud and probably several more that I am forgetting. In the summer months they also had like 4 schedules a day that dropped off and picked up at the old LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park.
Ohio Bus Lines also had numerous daily runs to Richmond Indiana/Eaton Ohio. They once had a bus yard that used to butt up to Franklin Street across from Emanuel Catholic Church (next door to Chaminade) You couldn't enter it from Franklin though, you had to enter off of Perry or Washington Street. It wasn’t very visible from the church or school and many people never knew it was there.
The Cincinnati Division also contracted with Cincinnati Transit to run several of their more rural routes such as the Addystown-Cleves route the G- Cheviot Hills/Montana Avenue and the Route 22--Green Hills/Brentwood. At one time I think they had like 40 Coaches that were dedicated to serve select Cincinnati Transit Routes. The bus barn for that operation was on the corner of Kinsey Street and Reading Road. Google tells me the building is still standing, but is now being used to store building supplies. As you probably already know, Ohio Bus Lines has been history for decades.
Last Edited by RIVERDALE RAT on Jun 15, 2014 11:43 PM
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historybuff
137 posts
Jun 16, 2014
6:48 AM
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Speaking of bus routes, during the Second World War my family lived in Chillicothe. I remember in 1943 my dad went to work at WPAFB as an electrician. Due to the war there was a scarcity of labor available, so there were many people recruited for employment in the rural areas of Ohio. WPAFB had a bus that picked up workers all the way to Chillicothe on Sunday and returned them on Friday night. I remember that during the war my dad was only home on the weekends. The bus was a weird affair; it was like a semi-trailer converted to a bus. I don’t remember whether it was owned by WPAFB or a commercial bus line. Would sure like to know whether anyone remembers something like that…...
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newsnot
379 posts
Jun 16, 2014
7:04 AM
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Riverdale Rat,
The bus barn at Kinsey and Reading roads was torn down last year. I hated to see it go. It was a neat building.
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Daytongirl01
16 posts
Jun 16, 2014
7:32 AM
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Hi historybuff, sorry I don't know anything about the bus you are referring to, but my dad also worked at Wright-Pat during the WWII, he was an airplane mechanic. His name was Sam Poppa, he worked there until right after the war ended.
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RIVERDALE RAT
574 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:00 AM
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newsnot..It doesn’t surprise me in the least. If you want a screen shot of it, you can still go to Google and clip one, they have shots of it still standing., it’s changed a bit, the big old doors are long gone and they have run chain link fence across it instead. The earliest days of my life was spent in that old neighborhood. I still remember a lot, needless to say it's all been destroyed by now. The old brick building directly on the corner across from the bus barn was a really neat old neighborhood tavern where my dad used to go sometimes to watch the Reds play (Television in a tavern was unusual in those days) Not many games were ever televised so they listened to Waite Hoyt on the big radio more days than they watched. The United way building across the street used to be the old Metropolitan Life Insurance Building; I had my very first photo taken on the front steps. I'm amazed you know that area, did you live there?
rdebross... that was an old Greyhound (Silver Sides) bus that Dayton and Southeastern used. If you go to facebook and search Bus Buzz you will find my old abandoned/work in progress bus page, I have a picture of one old Silver sides in there, you will recognize it immediately. One day I will finish that page (I hope) the old Lake Shore lines used to run similar coaches out of Columbus to Chillicothe during the same era. If memory serves, they had an orange and white color scheme.
Last Edited by RIVERDALE RAT on Jun 16, 2014 9:04 AM
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Ol'Roy
31 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:10 AM
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The bus from Chillicothe to Wright Field and Patterson Field was operated by Dayton & Southeastern Lines. During the war years, there were a number of bus routes started to the air bases in addition to those routes already in existence. Some were from areas within Dayton and others were from more distant points.
The semi-trailer bus was actually an automobile-hauling tractor-trailer rig with the trailer converted to a bus with wooden sides, floor and seats. Quite a number of these conversions were done and they saw service all over the country during World War II. In addition to Dayton & Southeastern, Cincinnati & Lake Erie and Xenia-Hillsboro Bus Co. used them locally. I was told some years ago by people who had ridden in such vehicles, they rode pretty rough. But they got people to work and back home in that time of gas and tire rationing.
Ol'Roy
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newsnot
381 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:14 AM
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Riverdale,
It was called the Avondale Car House. It was the last to have all classes of vehicles. Streetcars, Trolley Buses and Motor coaches .Kelly Truck bodies operated out of there in the sixties. They built custom truck bodies for businesses.
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newsnot
382 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:21 AM
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riverdale,
I know that red brick building you are referring to.It might be empty now. I will check that out.That neighborhood is in transition now. They are building a new exit at I-71 to service the area. Just in planning stages now.. Do you remember the Oak Street Railroad tunnel? I went in it years back. It was very scary.
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Ol'Roy
32 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:35 AM
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Riverdale Rat,
A couple of months ago, there was a photo of one of the Lake Shore Silversides up for sale on eBay. Were you the lucky bidder?
By the way, you could enter the Ohio Bus Line garage from Franklin St. The big doors faced north onto Franklin. For a time in the 1960's, Megacity Transit Lines, owned by St. John Transportation, leased part of that garage. Ohio Bus Line sold it around 1970.
Ol'Roy
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Nile
153 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:51 AM
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There was a bus line that went from Dayton to Greenville. I believe it was called just that, "The Dayton Greenville Bus Line". It went route 49 (Salem Ave.) all the way.
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RIVERDALE RAT
575 posts
Jun 16, 2014
11:42 AM
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Nile...Yes there was a Dayton Greenville Bus Line, I can't recall the route they took as I only rode it one time when I was 12, but I do recall that they used those old Flexible coaches from the 50s the same as Dayton Van Wert lines used, not sure both lines wasn't owned by the same people.
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RIVERDALE RAT
581 posts
Jun 16, 2014
2:31 PM
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Ol'Roy...Sorry if it sounds like I am disputing your word, I am just drawing a total blank on that for some reason. If you hung out there, I am sure you know better than I. I am just happy to find someone else who even knows what the Ohio Bus Lines were. When I left there in the early 70s, they were still in operation. I know St. Johns had started to sell off some of their routes to private individuals in the late 60s. I recall a man and his son buying the Tipp City runs, He painted the busses two toned blue and called it the Dayton Tipp City Bus Co. I think his name was Anderson. I don't know much of what happened after that. That was still during the era when bus companies were trying to stay solvent from fare box revenue alone. I think St. Johns sometimes bit off more than they could chew, I know they slurped up the Springfield city Lines and run it for a while before turning it back over to someone else.
I am going to go look for that lake shore photo, I don't have a in-service photo of any Lake Shore Bus. Thanks for the info.
Last Edited by RIVERDALE RAT on Jun 16, 2014 6:32 PM
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Ol'Roy
36 posts
Jun 16, 2014
6:22 PM
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Riverdale, no problem. I've enjoyed the exchange of information.
Ol'Roy
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Billd1952
207 posts
Jun 16, 2014
7:05 PM
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I rode the Ohio Bus Line. My dad would take me to work with him, and we rode the bus home. It was a 50s model, dark green with yellow stripes. It ran from Dayton to Cincinnati, on the old Dixie Hgwy. I found a picture of the bus on line, but I can't remember the URL.
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historybuff
138 posts
Jun 16, 2014
7:25 PM
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TNX much, Ol,Roy. I’ve often wondered about that bus contraption. My mother and I used to walk my Dad to catch the bus on Sunday evenings and if it wasn’t too late, we would walk again to meet him when he returned on Friday evenings. After about a year and a half of that we moved to Xenia and he could commute each day. He continued to work at WPAFB until the end of the war when he started his own business in Xenia. Strangely enough, I ended up spending 38 years at WPAFB and never expected that as a young man when my Dad was working there. One never knows just what the future will bring……..
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RIVERDALE RAT
585 posts
Jun 16, 2014
9:51 PM
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Billd1952... If you go on facebook and search Bus Buzz I have some pictures of the various Ohio Bus Lines coaches in the header, If you scan down there is also a color shot of one older models as it heads south on Main St. in front of Rike's. That page is still a work in progress, so there isn't much else there.
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luv my dayton
618 posts
Jun 17, 2014
11:52 AM
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If you want to see some of the older buses do believe Carillon Park has some in their village down on Patterson. Beautiful park and some historical properties that once served Dayton. The old Sun Oil Station that sat at the point of Brown and Warren is on display there along with other businesses of that time. A fee is now charged to tour all the buildings but the walk takes you back to that period of time. Also a Culps restaurant there. Just a beautiful place to relax and also to learn and see some of the history. The big Pavilion is also fun for the kids and its free. They have concerts with the bells and am sure their website has many of their activities on a calender.
Last Edited by luv my dayton on Jun 17, 2014 11:53 AM
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RIVERDALE RAT
587 posts
Jun 17, 2014
4:39 PM
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luv my Dayton.. I keep hearing about that place and I keep meaning to go check out their website and of course I keep forgetting. I hope the old Gem City Clock has finally found a forever home there, it's been bounced around enough. Actually I would love to see the Gem City Clock returned to 3rd and Main, but that's not going to happen. I am definitely going to go see this place when and if I ever make it back there. newsnot.. This sounds like a great place to have our reunion meeting that we keep talking about.
Last Edited by RIVERDALE RAT on Jun 17, 2014 4:39 PM
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KennyE11
192 posts
Aug 03, 2014
12:36 AM
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RAT - I am researching a trip to Dayton, and looking at places to visit including Carillon Historical Park. While zooming in on the Google Maps satellite view (to the point where it becomes a birds eye view), I saw what appears to be the Gem City Clock sitting at ground level along a row of historic buildings. I didn't see any specific reference to it on the associated daytonhistory.org website, and the resolution of the birds eye view isn't sharp enough to confirm it's the clock. For some reason, I don't remember it as being baby blue (I thought it was green), so maybe that's not it.
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FreedomWriter
88 posts
Aug 03, 2014
6:02 AM
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Kenny: Yes thats the Gem city clock you are asking about. For quite a few years the clock sat atop a building at the I-75 Rt 35 interchange. They took that building down and removed the clock to Carillon Park which was supposed to be temporary, but it has been there ever since. I believe they are trying to find it a new home, but nothing as of yet.
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RIVERDALE RAT
730 posts
Aug 05, 2014
1:32 PM
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KennyE11... I just found this question, I have been gone on a preservation quest and I see newsnot and joanofthe60s are both still AWOL. Looks like FreedomWriter and Curt already answered you. I think any variation in the color of the clock frame could probably be attributed to the weather. No, it was never baby Blue during any period in my life. Hopefully one day it will return home to 3rd and Main where it belongs.
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RIVERDALE RAT
733 posts
Aug 07, 2014
10:56 AM
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I grew up with this clock at third and main, as I recall there never was any bright or noticeable colors on the Gem City Clock or Town clock as many referred to it. If I am not mistaken the frame/cupola was covered in a thin copper coating as was customary for things of that nature in that era. Many church steeples and domes in particular were covered with this same material. for a good example of what weather and oxidation does to surfaces like that, you needn’t look any further than the domes of sacred heart Church at 4th and Wilkinson. I recall seeing the clock several times when it was on Reynolds and it looked exactly the same to me except the Gem City Savings letters were missing and it looked weird setting that close to the ground. Anyone who wants to restore something like this to its original appearance needn't do anything except recover it with the original material and let time and weather take its course. I never seen it painted baby blue and I am somewhat glad I didn't. I like the idea of relocating the clock to the old courthouse, providing an appropriate tower was constructed. The area you speak of across from memorial hall is where the old Patterson Co-Op High School used to sit. I dislike this location for the clock because it’s too far from the center of town.
Last Edited by RIVERDALE RAT on Aug 07, 2014 10:58 AM
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KennyE11
208 posts
Aug 30, 2014
12:06 AM
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Curt - My previous post on this topic was on August 27, but it didn't move it up the index list. It continued to show the August 7 post as the last post, so I'm trying again.
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