The Upper Chagrin Preserve in Russell Township encompasses more than vernal ponds, untouched fauna and flora and the headwaters of the Chagrin River.
The Upper Chagrin Preserve in Russell Township encompasses more than vernal ponds, untouched fauna and flora and the headwaters of the Chagrin River.
The Maple Leaf Route of the Eastern Ohio Traction Company, also known as the inter urban railroad, wound its way through the bottom of the preserve and was widely used to transport goods and people from Middlefield to Cleveland at the turn of the 20th century.
The Russell Township Citizens’ Park District board has been working for months with West Geauga Schools and Gilmore Academy to make the 151-acre wooded preserve more available for educational purposes in the fields of science and biology.
At the board’s Feb. 17 meeting, board member Perry Howland said he had been in touch with Dan Rager, a Cleveland State University professor emeritus who has written three books about the inter urban railroad.
Board member Roy Podojil said Rager will be speaking on that topic at 7 p.m. March 10 at the Chardon branch of the Geauga Public Library. (Register to attend at https://geaugalibrary.libcal.com/event/8379762.)
Rager said over the phone he has been a train buff his whole life and became curious about why many railroads in this area disappeared in the early 1900s, so he began researching them and collecting relics from the era. The Maple Leaf Route through Chardon, Junction and UCP to Cleveland, built in 1899, was especially short-lived, abandoned in 1925, he said, adding the track from Garrettsville through Middlefield ceased operation in 1909. His books track the financial difficulties that put the inter urban lines under.
The only access to UCP in Russell Township is off a residential road and across the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. power line right-of-way. During last Thursday’s meeting, board members discussed the possibility of establishing a parking lot that would make it easier for study groups and possibly horse riders to use trails in the preserve.
Podojil said he has received drawings of the second of three bridges the board is planning to have built over tributaries to the Chagrin River when the weather allows. The bridges will allow better access to areas that will be of the most interest to classes and he said he would like to find out if teachers have included field trips to UCP in their curriculum.
“The more we can get in terms of teacher commitment, the better it will be when we go to the township trustees,” Podojil said, adding the teacher from Gilmore Academy was very enthusiastic about a field trip.
Board secretary Maria Livers said Darci Sanders of Gilmour Academy’s Nature-Based Learning Program has AP lesson plans that include use of the UCP.
Local naturalists and some associated with the Geauga Park District plan to visit the UCP with study groups in the near future, Podojil said.
Trustees signed a two-year lease agreement with the board in August giving the citizens’ park district board authority over activities and improvements to the preserve.
This map of the inter urban railroads in Geauga County was provided by Dan Rager, Cleveland State University professor emeritus, who has written several books on the rail lines abandoned about 100 year ago. The Maple Leaf Route wound along the Chagrin River in the Upper Chagrin Preserve in Russell Township.
