Broadview Avenue

Broadview Avenue was given its name because it is so wide (or “broad”). The street was built this way to allow enough room for a streetcar, or an electric bus, to get up the hill. That is also the reason the street was built with curves instead of straight, like Grandview Avenue. The Broadview Avenue streetcar ran on rails that were laid on the street, similar to train tracks.  

Wealthy Columbus residents came to Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff in the summer to escape the city heat. Downtown Columbus was also dirty and smelly in warm temperatures because factories and residents burned coal for heat and energy. So our communities were once a beautiful vacation resort in the country!  

The original way to travel from downtown Columbus to Grandview Heights, a distance of approximately 4 miles, would have been in a horse and buggy. The trip would take about 40 minutes. The Broadview Avenue streetcar was started in 1901. It was faster than a horse and buggy and took less than 20 minutes for the same route. The original cost of a one-way streetcar ticket was 5 cents.  

Discuss:  What can you buy for 5 cents today?  

The streetcar from Columbus traveled along Goodale Boulevard and up Broadview Avenue hill to First Avenue. From there, it headed to Cambridge Boulevard and eventually into the City of Upper Arlington. 

Discuss: As a Halloween prank, students used to put soap on the streetcar rails along the hill. What do you think would happen?

Conductors on the streetcar in 1908.  

Streetcar ticket. 

The streetcar in Marble Cliff heading to Upper Arlington.