VICRail & telegraph
Ringwood
A coaching inn on the Gippsland track that became a railway junction.
1882Lilydale railway opens
WHAT STARTED IT
An inn opened in 1850 on the track east to Lilydale and the Gippsland pastoral runs and goldfields. The Lilydale railway reached it in 1882, and the Fern Tree Gully branch made Ringwood a junction in 1889.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Timber getting, an antimony mine, brickworks, orchards and berry farms supported the settlement, and growers built a cool store near the station in 1911. Electrification in the 1920s brought subdivision, and Ringwood became a borough in 1924 and a city in 1960.
TURNING POINTS
1882The railway from Hawthorn to Lilydale opens through Ringwood on 1 December.
1889The branch to Fern Tree Gully makes Ringwood a junction.
1924The borough of Ringwood is created.
1960Ringwood is declared a city.
1967Eastland shopping centre opens.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A major eastern suburban centre around the Eastland shopping complex and the rail junction of the Lilydale and Belgrave lines.