Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 4 – Cisco, Ohio

: 1960 USGS Aerial Photo of Cisco, OH

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the times bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


Cisco, Fayette, Ohio: the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad’s Cisco, Ohio station was located between Washington Court House and Frankfort; two miles to Convenience to the west and two miles to Fairview to the east according to the 1883 Official Railway Guide. Grain shipment was the leading role of the station[1].


It is said that the nearby community once had a post office known as the Cisco Post Office[2]. The USGS Feature Detail Report for: McLean lists Cisco as the variant name[3]. 1892 A B C Pathfinder Shipping and Mailing Guide lists the place as Cisco but noted it as "not Post Office" and duplicates it as McLean "Post Office"[4].

The community of McLean was named for a civil engineer James Alexander McLean(1841 – 1913) who offered his land for the railroad right of way[1, 2].

The Dayton & Southeastern Railroad from Dayton to Wellston was incorporated in 1871 and the section in Fayette County through Cisco was completed in 1877[5]. The D&SE merged into Toledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad in 1881, and the TD&B itself merged with TC&StL in 1882.

Accordingly, the community of Cisco may have been renamed to Mclean in these days. But the name of the station remained as Cisco at least until 1898 according to the Official Guide. Eventually, B&O renamed the station to Mclean in no later than 1919, maybe from the beginning in 1917[6].


James Mclean moved from Washington C. H. to Cisco in 1881[4]. The post office called McLean was established in 1888 and remained in operation until 1928[7]. John S. McAllister was the original postmaster, succeeded by Addie Sue McAdams in 1894.

The Cisco School on Cisco Road was built in 1913 and remained until 1941[8, 9]. The schoolhouse survives to this day as a private home shown far right in the Googlemap street view below. 1960 USGS Aerial Photo shows three structures intact at the railroad station/crossing.


The former TC&St.L line, later Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Wellston Division since 1883, and eventually Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Renick Branch since 1917 was abandoned in 1973[10]. The right of way was converted to the Tri-County Triangle Trail[11]. Today, the name Cisco survives only as of the name of the adjacent country road.

[1] Dills, R. S., (1881) History of Fayette County, Odel & Mayer, Publishers;
[2] Feb. 11, 1952 Washington Court House Record-Herald;
[3] USGS Feature Detail Report for: McLean;
[4] 1892 A B C Pathfinder Shipping and Mailing Guide, New England Railway Publishing Company;
[5] A Little History of Our Trail, Tri-County Triangle Trail, Inc.;
[6] B&O Western Lines Timetables Corrected January 1, 1919;
[7] Forte, Jim, Fayette County, Ohio Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History;
[8] Turner, Aaron, Fayette County Schools, Old Ohio Schools;
[9] Jun. 19, 1941 Washington Court House Record-Herald
[10] Cahal, Sherman, Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, Abandoned;
[11] The Renick Branch, Abandoned Rails;

: Google maps Cisco, OH
　
　
筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。一番邪魔なのは「San Francisco」、次に邪魔なのは「Cisco Systems」に関連するページである。テキサス州にある「Cisco」という町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。古い時刻表を調べてみると、ユタ州Cisco以外に八カ所ものCisco駅があったらしい。どんなところだろう。


Cisco, Ohio: 三カ所目のCisco駅は、Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroadのオハイオ州DaytonおよびWellstonを結ぶ支線に開設された駅である。1880年代初頭に、この辺りの地主であったJames McLeanが、鉄道用地提供と引き替えに村の名を自分の名字であるMcLeanに換えてしまったようだ。鉄道の駅名も当初はCiscoだったが、後年McLeanに変わっている。

Cisco/McLeanの最盛期には50人以上の住民がおり、小学校も開設されていた。しかし、現在はその校舎を転用したと思われる民家が一軒あるのみ。B&Oの支線も1973年に廃線になり、その線路敷きは遊歩道になっている。駅があったと思われる辺りは一面の畑になっており、Ciscoはその遊歩道と交差する道路の名称に名を遺すのみである。