POMEROY, ALSON HORATIO (7 March 1836-1 April 1906) was a BEREA banker who became involved in the organization of interurban railroad lines. The son of farmer Alanson Pomeroy, he was born and received his common school education in STRONGSVILLE. He entered business as an assistant in his father's general store there until 1866, when he moved to Elyria to operate his own dry goods business. In 1876 Pomeroy moved to Berea and became president of the Bank of Berea, a position he held for the remainder of his life. In association with W.D. Miller, he acquired a small horsecar railway in Berea in 1890. Reorganizing it as the CLEVELAND & BEREA STREET RAILWAY CO., they converted it to electric power and extended it to Cleveland. Pomeroy then formed a syndicate in 1895 with Cleveland banker M.J. Mandelbaum to extend the line to Elyria. By 1903 they had merged it with several other lines between Norwalk and Wooster to form the Cleveland & Southwestern Traction Co. As the CLEVELAND, SOUTHWESTERN & COLUMBUS RAILWAY it went on after Pomeroy's death to become one of Ohio's largest interurban lines. Pomeroy also served 2 terms as mayor of Berea, where he died from an attack of apoplexy. Survived by his wife since 1859, the former Ellen Tillinghast of Berlin Hts., O., he was buried at LAKE VIEW CEMETERY. He also left 2 sons, F.T. Pomeroy and J.B. Pomeroy, and a daughter, Mrs. J.O. Wilson.
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