Great Kipton Train Wreck (24 - 47)
Posted by: 
boatchick
N 41° 16.049 W 082° 18.223
17T E 390798 N 4569270
Railway disaster leads to improved timekeeping as well as to a common slang phrase.
Waymark Code: WM388P
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 02/24/2008
Views: 71
On April 19, 1891, a head-on collision between two trains of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company occurred at the Kipton depot. Eight people lost their lives, and the depot was heavily damaged. The crash occurred when a fast mail train heading east near Kipton and a passenger train going west from Elyria collided. The passenger train was supposed to let the mail train go by, but the conductor had not realized that his watch had stopped for four minutes and then restarted. As a result the passenger train was late getting to the stopping point. Looking into the matter, the railway company enlisted Webb C. Ball, a well-known Cleveland jeweler, to investigate time and watch conditions throughout its lines. Ball instituted the current railroad industry's timekeeping program, which specified watches trainmen could use. His attention to accuracy and promptness led to the well-known saying, "Get on the Ball."
Marker Number: 24 - 47
County: Lorain
Significance of Location: Event
Website address: [Web Link]
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate description: Not listed
Bicentenial Mark: Not Listed
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