History Knox
History Knox is a column authored each Saturday morning by Mark Sebastian Jordan.
FREDERICKTOWN — A picture posted some years ago in the Knox Time collection on Facebook came with an interesting detail.
This area of the B&O Railroad tracks crossing Mill Street in Fredericktown was apparently at one time known as Hell’s Neck, according to a comment left by Knox Time reader James Wagner.
One wonders why!
The photograph, though clearly vintage, is not dated.
The two figures leaning/sitting on trunks on the depot’s boardwalk platform appear to be wearing straw hats, a fashion that could run anywhere from the 1890s to the 1920s, though the vest and jackets suggest a pre World War I date.
It is interesting to note behind them across the train tracks runs a pedestrian bridge, which Wagner says ran from East College Avenue—which runs at the top of the bank to the left of the tracks — over to a swimming area on the Kokosing River.
History Knox readers may remember this spot being discussed extensively in an earlier column.
This turns out to be the area where a train derailed on Sept. 21, 1912. Indeed, I can’t help but wonder if this derailment is what gave this narrow gap the nickname of “Hell’s Neck.”
After finding a postcard with an image of that wreck, I was able to track down the location, which turned out to be a familiar one from an earlier misadventure of my own.
Today the main track is part of the Owl Creek Trail, while the platform, the siding, and the depot itself are long gone.
The pedestrian bridge is likewise a thing of the past, though I can imagine what an intense experience it would have been to experience a steam train passing underneath you from atop the bridge.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen any post cards from that point of view.
Do any readers have any memories/stories regarding this crossing or the nearby swimming area?