Timberland Avenue is located along the fringe of Brookline, off the lower end of Edgebrook Avenue. It runs almost parallel to the South Busway, Saw Mill Run Creek and Rt. 51, on the southern side of the train tracks. The street heads in the direction of the Liberty Tunnels, but deadends far short of that destination.

There is also a smaller, lesser known part of Timberland Avenue, located on the northern side of the train tracks off of Rt. 51 near Bausman Street. This small section of Timberland lies behind the Red, White and Blue Thrift store off of Saw Mill Run Blvd. There is a small bridge that leads to a group of homes nestled below the train tracks on the hillside along the creek. There was also a group of homes sitting atop the hill, above the rail line.

Back in October, 1909, the homes atop the hill were disconnected from the main roadway. To get to Saw Mill Run travelers had to cross over the train tracks using the large, rickety wooden bridge in the upper left. At the time, there was a proposal to extend this section of Timberland Avenue through a tunnel under the rail embankment and up the hill to connect the homes above the rail line, where present-day Lineal and Cadet Avenues are located. Eventually, plans included extending Timberland to connect with the other section of the street that ran towards Edgebrook. These proposals never came to pass, but the old photos of the northern section of Timberland, behind the present-day Thrift Store are interesting.

Click on images for larger photos

The Timberland Avenue bridge crossed Saw Mill Run Creek and connected the homes with Saw Mill Run Boulevard (Rt. 51). The bridge is located behind the present day Red, White and Blue Thrift store across from Bausman Street.

Another view of the homes on this small northern section of Timberland. The embankment to the right supports the train tracks. A tunnel under the rail embankment was proposed to connect this section of Timberland with the homes on the southern side of the tracks near the location of present-day Cadet Avenue.

After passing under the rail embankment, the extension would follow this small hollow up to the homes on the hill above the rail line. It would have been a major improvement for these homes.

A view from the top of the hill, looking down upon Saw Mill Run and the homes along Timberland. Across Saw Mill Run you can see the path of the trolley line that carried the Shannon-Drake line then, and the present light rail "T" system today.

These are the homes up on the hill that stood to benefit most from the roadway extension. At that time, their only connection with Saw Mill Run Blvd was over the rickety bridge shown in the photos above and below. Although this proposal did not come to pass, their problems were solved with the construction of Cadet Avenue, which connected them with the lower end of Pioneer Avenue.

The photo above and the two below show the upper Timberland Avenue Bridge in 1918. The heavily-used wooden span stood above the railroad tracks and was used by the residents that lived above Saw Mill Run on Cadet Street. Plans to tunnel below the tracks were scrapped, giving new life to the rickety span. Once Cadet Street was extended to Pioneer Avenue the bridge was no longer needed and scrapped.

The bridge stood high above Timberland Avenue and Saw Mill Run Boulevard. It offered travelers a nice view of Saw Mill Run Valley and the hillside beyond. Below left shows the long row of homes on the hillside above Saw Mill Run. Those homes were demolished in the early 1920s during construction of the Liberty Tunnels. Below right shows the Bausman Street Bridge, used by the Castle Shannon Railroad, rising above Bausman Street.

This is a map segment from 1916 showing the northern section of Timberland Avenue. It shows the homes present, the wooden bridge over the rail embankment, the bridge spanning the creek and also the proposed roadway extension to the homes up on the hill.

A bird's eye view of Timberland Avenue today.