In 1899 the Dayton, Springfield and Urbana Railway began building a new powerhouse at Medway, using the existing millrace to supply water for a steam generation system for direct current electricity, and the plant went into operation on January 15, 1900 as an interurban powerhouse. In 1901 the powerhouse was doubled in size with the addition of a 150-foot second smokestack that dwarfed the original 130-foot stack. While the powerhouse operated, traction line owners included the DS&U Railway, IC&E, Ohio Electric, and CL&E, and Barney and Smith Company of Dayton manufactured many of the cars used on the interurban lines. By 1922 electricity could be bought more cheaply from cities, so the powerhouse closed, and the automobile brought decline to the electric railroads, whose final interurban trolley run came on November 1, 1938. In 1900 the DS&U Railroad also opened Tecumseh Park, an 85-acre wooded resort area on the banks of the Mad River, where Dayton and Springfield businesses held picnics with guests numbering in the thousands, concerts were given in the pavilion, baseball and basketball games were played, including those of Olive Branch High School, and the Medway Methodist Church Ladies Aid Society often served lunches for events in the park; its glory days ended around 1930. Bordering Medway and the millrace and stretching to the Mad River, the 200-acre Estel Wenrick Wetlands support a great variety of wildlife, including beavers, wild turkeys, and a large heron rookery, as well as rare plant life, more than 255 species of marsh plants including the endangered Eastern White Fringed Prairie Orchid, and a hiking trail for quiet observation.