The Mountain Line Accident by Rodney Johnson

96 years ago [yesterday] a street car crashed off the bridge at High Bridge Glen.
Many of us enjoy the view from the bridge at the new High Bridge Glens Park near the Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls . But, how many people know it is the scene of a horrific accident?

The Mountain Line was a street car line that ran from Main Street in Akron, down Furnace Street, across a 325 foot bridge that crossed the Little Cuyahoga River, then paralleled the railroad tracks that run along the new expressway. When it reached Cuyahoga Falls it ran down a small hill on Prospect Street and made a sharp turn onto the High Bridge before reaching its destination on Front Street in downtown Cuyahoga Falls. It was no doubt the scenic views and bridges that gave it the name The Mountain Line.

On the 4:00 run, on June 11, 1918, car 350 stopped on the eastern side of the High Bridge to let off two passengers. As it crossed the bridge the front truck (wheels) of the car came off the track. The wooden planks and railing could not support the weight of the two and a half ton car and gave way. Though the streetcar had been moving at a slow rate of speed, the accident happened so fast that no one had time to react. It fell end over end 90 feet* to the river below. Several people were nearby and one, the conductor of another streetcar waiting to cross the bridge, was lowered by rope to the crash site.

 
Killed were: the trolley conductor, an Akron attorney, a cement block manufacturer, and a young man who lived in Akron. A young Italian man was either thrown clear or had jumped clear of the final crash but was regardless killed by his injuries or drowned in deep water. Two men, one the motorman, the other a machinist, survived the accident though they were both thought to be dead at first. They were even placed on the “dead wagon,” but an observant spectator noticed that one of the men moved a little. The men were examined by a doctor who determined they had broken skulls and fractured limbs. Both men recovered and lived normal lives.

The damage to the car was so severe (one newspaper account of the day described it like “a hammer hitting an eggshell,) and the crash site so hard to get to, no attempt was made to clean it up. Today when the river is very low some of the wreckage can still be seen. Most obvious is a wheel lodged in between two rocks.

A full account of the accident can be found in Haunted Akron, by Jeri Holland. Yes, some say that spirits roam the area (though it is thought that they are from High Bridge Glens Park where so many had a pleasant time.)
This is not the only accident that occurred on the bridge. People also jumped, fell, and drove off the High Bridge.

*From reading the many accounts of the accident, the distance from the bridge to the river differs from 80 to 105 feet. But at that distance 25 feet more or less wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.

Written by Rodney Johnson

More of Rodney’s work is on the Facebook group History of Akron & Summit County