Although the steam railroads missed Birmingham, the electric interurban cars served the village for a quarter of a century. The Cleveland Southwestern & Columbus Railway, called the Green Line because its cars were painted green, began service to Norwalk shortly after the turn of the century and Birmingham was stop 17.

The story of the Green Line is an interesting one. It had its beginning from a horsecar line operating in Berea in 1884. The horse drawn cars operated in downtown Berea to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad depot, a distance of a mile and a half. The line was purchase by A. H. Pomeroy, a Berea businessman who became associated with W. D. Miller who had operated horsecar lines in Sandusky. Both men were interested in the future of electric railways and had observed the rapid development of street railways in cities. They laid rail to Rocky River continuing down Lorain Road to the city limits of Cleveland.

Later rail was laid to Elyria. By 1895 it was possible to ride from Elyria to Cleveland on the Green Line.

The line was extended to Oberlin in 1898. The Norwalk Gas & Electric Company laid a 24 mile route from Oberlin through Birmingham and Berlin Heights to Norwalk. Later there were corporate mergers and reorganizations, consolidating the various lines and companies that had erected them.

The Green Line proceeded from Oberlin, crossed Henrietta Township at Garfield Road, reached the south side of the Vermillion River where Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ashbaugh now live, crossed the river on a steel bridge, the footings of which still exist, came to the north side of the river on the Schoepfle property, proceeded northwest across South Street to the station which now houses the local exchange of the telephone company. From that point it went west about half way between South and Main Streets, crossed 113 and went alongside the north side of 113 to Berlin Heights.

The development of the automobile and paving of roads spelled the death of the electric railways. The Norwalk division which served Birmingham was abandoned in 1924. The whole Green Line system stopped operation on February 28, 1931.

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Transcribed by Lowell Dunlap