{"nrhp_refnum":"87000762","name":"Niles Car & Manufacturing Company Electric Railway Interurban Combine No. 21","other_names":["Ohio Public Service Combine No. 21"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"990 Proprietor's Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worthington","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":40.09018079300006,"lon":-83.00195560599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-06-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden electric interurban railway combine car (passenger and baggage), built in 1905 by the Niles Car & Manufacturing Company of Niles, Ohio, for the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway. It is now preserved at a railway museum on Proprietor's Road in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the car represents the heyday of Ohio's electric interurban era and is a prime example of Niles wooden car design, cited by railway authorities as the best surviving example of wooden interurban car design in the United States. It is also noted as one of the first electric railway cars preserved and restored for museum use, in 1946.","narrative":"Combine No. 21 is a wooden electric interurban car built in 1905 by the Niles Car & Manufacturing Company for the Toledo, Port Clinton and Lakeside Railway. It measures about 50 feet 6 inches long and carries a baggage compartment, a smoking section and a non-smoking section, finished inside in quarter-sawn oak. Features include arched windows with leaded glass, a full-length clerestory roof and curved car ends. The line later passed to the Northwestern Ohio Railway and Power Company and then to the Ohio Public Service Company, which ran service until 1945. The car was saved from scrapping that year and became one of the first electric railway cars preserved for museum use, in 1946. Railway historians Hilton and Due called it the best surviving example of wooden interurban car design in the United States. It now operates occasionally on a short stretch of former interurban right-of-way at a museum in Worthington.","period_of_significance":"1900-1999 (form checks 1900-; specific date 1905)","architect_builder":"Niles Car & Manufacturing Company","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Mechanically operational and structurally sound but in need of exterior body work and painting; kept in the museum's car barn and run occasionally on a half-mile of track.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.319751-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/87000762.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988585","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/niles-car-and-manufacturing-company-electric-railway-interurban-combine-no-21-87000762/"}