This view looking north along High Street just south of the depot grounds shows
what a problem the grade-level rail traffic had become by the early 1890s. With rapid
growth on the city’s north side, after establishment of Ohio State University in 1870,
conflicts between street traffic and trains became more severe. Note how pedestrians
and vehicles have been blocked by at least two trains, although pedestrians could
cross over—illegally—on a wood streetcar bridge built in the late 1880s.
No one used the tunnel that had been built in the early 1870s. The second
union depot stands to the right, out of the picture. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)