Trebein was a bustling town founded by Adam Emory; a working community featuring a Trebein School #6, a three-story hotel, a distillery, train station, multiple mills, a grocery store, and a fertilizer factory.  Fredrick C. Trebein (1833-1900) married Joan Ankeney in 1869.  His five stone mill, powered by both steam and water could mill 95 barrels of flour per day, most of which was shipped to Philadelphia and New York.

Per Albert Ankeney: "A memorable moment in Beavercreek's railroad history came July 24, 1902, the disastrous wreck at Trebein.  Number 2, a fast passenger train, was coming in from the west on the Pennsylvania line.  It seems that in switchin in the Xenia railyard they were accustomed to putting a pole between the yard engine and a car to give it a shove to put it off on a side track.  But somehow or other, the man who was left on the car couldn't stop it with the hand brake.  He jumped off the car, instead of going on to a siding, it went up the main track toward Alpha.

It's down hill a good bit of the way until you get just west of the Hawkins crossing and then it's just slightly up grade.  They sent a yard engine out and thought that by putting a man on the pilot they could connect with it and pull it back to Xenia.  But when they got far enough they the light of No. 2 coming from the west; they hightailed it back to Xenia.  They didn't want to get it, and they didn't know if the car was still on the track.  No. 2 met this car between the present elevator and the water tank.  It was a loaded coal car and it was a terrible wreck.

A good many of the coaches took fire.  The cars in those days were lighted with manufactured gas that they had in tanks under the passenger cars.  They called it pintch gas.  It ruptured a tank and threw the gas over the car and then it took fire.  The people were fastened under the seats that had been pulled loose, and nobody ever knew how many people perished.  The motorman on the D&X saw that there had been a wreck and he stopped his car and went over and pulled a man out of the wreck and the man hugged and kissed him because he'd saved his life.  A second cousin of mine, James Miller, had been to a dance at Lucas Grove (now KilKare).  They heard the wreck and hurried down.  He helped a lady.  She wanted his name, but he didn't want to be called into court, so he didn't tell her.  Big I think she wanted to reward him.  There were possibly two coaches at the rear that didn't catch fire, but most of the train burned up.

There were many inquiries that came in.  They wanted to know about their relatives.  Nobody could give them any information."

The attached image is a pre-1906 artist's rendering from a newspaper clipping of the 'Dam at Trebeins'.

• Trebein Headstone Trebein Headstone
• Flooded Tracks Flooded Tracks
• Train Wrecks On The Panhandle Train Wrecks On The Panhandle
• The Dam at Trebeins The Dam at Trebeins
• 1902 Train Wreck at Trebein 1902 Train Wreck at Trebein
• Stinky Mule Stinky Mule
• Troops Loading In Xenia Troops Loading In Xenia
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1961 Description of Trebein - Trebein formerly known as Pinkneyville, Frost Station and Beaver Station is two miles nearer Xenia. Pinkney Road running from Cincinnati through Bellbrook, through Trebein, through Oldtown and into Xenia was a very busy thoroughfare in the 1800’s, bringing supplies to and from Cincinnati.  William Maxwell, first printer and publisher in the Northwest Territory lived near Trebein and is believed to be buried about a mile southwest of Trebein on a knoll just back of his cabin.

Present Day - Trebein was another cross-road town on the rail line between Alpha and Xenia. A series of mills were built, the first by Adam Emory. Jonathan Snyder built a distillery in 1841 and found the production of whiskey to be quite profitable. Corn grown during the time was intended to feed livestock and truly wasn’t eaten in kernel form. Excess was distilled into whiskey and used to supplement income.

Later named for another businessman, F.C. Trebein, the small town offered a mill, a larger distillery and a fertilizer factory. A few homes and the remnants of some industrial sites still remain. Until the mid-1990’s the area was still known for its one-lane bridge over the Little Miami River.