Eigth and State

^---- Keep in mind that Jeff's map marked "Plan of Cincinnati" was printed in 1819 - a good 30 years after Cincinnati was founded in 1788. Hamilton County is on it's 5th courthouse. The first one, 1790, was a log house. The second one, 1819, was a 2 story cube shaped building with a center tower. This would be the one in the "Plan of Cincinnati," and it seems to fit the courthouse in a park pattern of some other Ohio towns. The third one was a large federal style building built in 1853. This one burned in the 1884 riots, to be replaced in 1887. The 1887 building recycled part of the previous building. Finally, the current court house was built in 1919, of non-cumbustible construction. A number of other buildings supplement the courthouse today, such as the Alms & Doepke building, the Adminstration Center, the Broadway Building, the Justice Center, and more, all located in the same area. I just read recently some very early history of the original court house, but can't remember the exact location. It had stocks and gallows nearby. Also, some land records were kept at John Cleves Symmes' home in North Bend, Ohio, and at Fort Washington in Cincinnati. So perhaps the point is that by 1819 the area closer to the river was already getting crowded so they moved the courthouse to the vicinity of it's present location on the outskirts. "Yet I suspect local preservationists and architectural historians pretty much have the place nailed down already." Jeff, if they do, I don't know about it. As one resident told me, there is some material about the German heritage, but nearly nothing about the black culture since 1950. Various buildings such as Music Hall have their own books. Canal and subway history is fairly easy to find. The neighborhood has so much depth, though, that it's hard to take it all in. The master's thesis by Daniel Brian Ferdelman might be the best article yet. I was always familiar with roof lines parallel to the street, but it never really sunk in until I saw your photos compared to the gables facing the street. More to come....

^--- There is a different story about the baseline found in "Original Ohio Land Subdivisions, Volume III of the final report, Ohio Cooperative Topographic Survey, by C.E. Sherman, 1925. He quotes "Notes on the early settlement of the Northwestern Territory" by Jacob Burnet, Cincinnati, 1847. "At the commencement of the survey, the principal surveyor was directed to run a line east and west from one Miami river to the other, sufficiently north to avoid the bends of the Ohio, for a base line, on which he was directed to plant a stake at the termination of each mile. The assistant surveyors were then instructed to run meridian lines by the companss, from each of these stakes, and to plant a stake at the termination of each mile, for a section corner." The line of Liberty street intersects the Ohio River 4 times, so I don't think it was the baseline. Judging from the Hamilton County Map and the range numbers, I think the baseline was about 5 miles north, between Fractional Range 2 and Entire Range 1, also known as the line between Colerain, Springfield, Sycamore, and Symmes Townships on the north and Whitewater, Green, Millcreek, and Columbia Townships on the south. It is true that Liberty Street follows a section line, and a township line at that. Some old maps show Liberty Street extending to the river to the east, but as far as I know, an improved street was never built over that extremely hilly route. Liberty Street was the original northern boundary of the town of Cincinnati. Since the town had no jurisdiction of the land north of Liberty Street, the area was called the "northern liberties." The original boundaries of the town of Cincinnati were the line of Liberty Street on the north, the Ohio River on the south and east, and the Mill Creek on the west. Cincinnati became a town in 1802, a city in 1819, and made it's first annexation, a tract of land bounded on the south by Liberty Street, on the west by the Mill Creek, on the north by another section line, McMillan Street, and on the east by Reading Road, in 1849.

The Liberty Street widening is especially interesting. The north side of Liberty Street is somewhat intact, with building lines at the edge of the street. Most of the buildings themselves, with a few exceptions, were angled to fit the lots. I presume that the buildings on the south side were like this as well. Upon widening, every single building on the south side was removed. The first building NOT removed typically left a blank wall facing Liberty street, with a triangular vacant lot. A few of those have since been redeveloped, but most of them remain parking lots or dumping grounds. Driving down Liberty, one sees weedy lots full of trash, triangular shaped parking lots, and some sprawl-type development (KFC.) By contrast, 12th street in Covington, Kentucky is proposed to be widened. Apparently, someone has learned a lesson. You can't just take the front 10 feet of a building; you have to take the whole building. On 12th street, it is proposed to take a whole block of buildings, but upon widening, to BUILD NEW BUILDINGS about 10 feet back, in order to preserve the street wall and prevent empty lots, not to mention keep the tax rolls going. Nearby Sycamore Hill was widened by taking every building on the east side and making a long strip park of the remainder. Now the whole street, including utilities, must be maintained, but the city is only collecting taxes on half of the frontage. I would love to see a map like this of the whole Cincinnati Basin. Thanks again for posting!

^---- That's impressive. There's a subdivision near Oxford, Ohio with all infrastructure and utilities including working streetlights without a single house. It was built in the 1990's, judging from the environment.

I have nothing to add to this but thanks for the hard work and I am looking forward to the next one!

Ault Park was formerly the site of the Cincinnati Flower Show. Why did they move it to Coney Island? Not enough parking?

(Goes to library; picks up Hamilton County Data Book by Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.) For the record: Delhi Township Populaton 1970 25,785 1980 29,078 +3293 +12.8% 1990 30,394 +1316 +4.5% 2000 30,104 -290 -0.45% 1999 Number of single family housing units: 10,714 1999 Average market value: $90,090

I've noticed a some doubles in rural areas. At first I thought that they were Shaker houses, which typical had separate entrances for men and women, but they don't fit with other Shaker characteristics. I can see why density requires doubles in urban areas. Why do I find isolated doubles? Any ideas? Nice post. Thanks for all the work.

"Were the rail companies taxed at a high rate to fund road development ?" Not only were they taxed, but they were also required to pave the streets that they operated in. In Cincinnati, anyway, the original law from the horse drawn days required transit companies to pave the portion of the street between the rails as a condition for using the right of way. The idea was that horses would wear a rut in the streets. When streetcar companies started installing double tracks, the area that they were required to pave extended between the two sets of tracks as well. In complicated intersections, the streetcar companies were required to pave nearly the entire intersection. This practice continued long after the horses were gone. The streetcar companies literally paved the way for the competition. And, automobiles not only competed for passengers, but they also competed for space. How many streetcars crashed into automobiles? How many streetcars were delayed in traffic? How many streetcars were delayed due to automobiles parked on the tracks? Whether it was fair or not, automobiles won that battle in Ohio cities, with a few exceptions. The streetcars are gone. Where do we go from here?

Regarding conspiracy theories, in all fairness the streetcar lines weren't doing all that well by the 1950's anyway.

David Burning man is a bizarre 3 day annual festival for artists and hippies held in the Nevada desert that attracts 30,000 people. "Burning Man" refers to a giant statue of a man that they light on fire at the end of the festival. What started as an art show on a beach in California has exploded into an event that eventually required it's own police force, medical facilities, sanitation, etc. Urban fans will note that you cannot have this many people assembled without some form of order. Each year has a slightly different layout, but the "streets" are a necessary part of the act. Experience shows that a circular system with the burning man in the center has been found to be simple to lay out, easy to navigate, and to offer photo opportunites with the burning man in the background. Groups are assigned lots based on previous year's experience.

I took a trip to Dayton just to see the trolley buses.

Do you know if there are any steam engines built today, other than hobby and demonstration models? I have read that they still use steam driven pile drivers, though I wouldn't know one if I saw it. Of course, steam is still used for heating, cleaning, etc.

^---- I know. I'm just horsing around with numbers. It is commonly said that the automobile replaced the horse and buggy. I would add that normal people didn't ride around in buggies. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people couldn't afford a horse, and walked. Furthermore, most people spent their entire lives within 50 miles of where they were born. There is simply no comparison.

^ I was more concerned that he is going to vote against every incumbent, based on gas prices alone, if I read his English correctly.

St. Rita's from Glendale-Milford road.

KJP, are there any good books about the Cleveland Union Terminal project?

Here's another photo found on west2k.com, a site that contains a database of Ohio railroad stations.

I should add that according to "The Pennsylvania Railroad in Cincinnati", by Tipton and Blardone, the station was built in 1907.

Yes, Paris is bigger than Barcelona, so that would make a difference in the street layout. Imagine if Central Parkway was lined on both sides by 6 story buildings! The parking lots detract from this so badly. In Oxford there are some new Miami University buildings going up on High Street that sort of follow this pattern. You are right about the population patterns. The United States is said to be 10 years behind Japan and 50 years behind Europe. I wonder if China will experience the same trend eventually? The capitalist paradox is that if you replace all of the workers with machines, there will be no laborers left to buy your products. In any case, none of these pre-war planners had any idea of the scale of the effects of the automobile. Even in the 1920's they recognized that growth was slowing, and that it would peak within a century or two. They had no idea, though, that the city would expand in area to 20 miles wide while density declined in the core. The Kessler plan showed a lot of foresight in preserving the best natural features, specifically the hilltops, as parks, but the plan never quite came to it's full potential simply because the density declined. Jackson Hill Park, Filson Park, Mt. Echo Park, etc., are all beautiful but mostly empty of people. For that matter, Central Parkway is mostly empty, too. The 1925 plan projected the population of the City of Cincinnati thus: 1920 400,000 1930 425,000 1940 450,000 1950 475,000 1960 500,000 1970 525,000 1980 540,000 1990 560,000 2000 575,000 2010 600,000 2020 610,000 2030 620,000 2040 630,000 2050 640,000 2060 645,000 2070 650,000 2080 660,000 But instead of 600,000 today, we have 300,000 - about half of projection, and only 3/4 of what we had in 1920!

I just found a photo of the station from 1930. There were two buildings, on either side of the railroad, connected by a pedestrian bridge, as the map shows. The downhill building had a total of 4 stories. Floor 1 fronted on the street on the downhill side. Floor two fronted on the tracks on the uphill side. Floor 3 and 4 formed a tower over the main building. Floor 3 connected to the pedestrian bridge. The tower contained an elevator so U.S. President W.H. Taft's wheelchair bound wife could board here, according to "The Pennsylvania Railroad in Cincinnati", by Tipton and Blardone. The uphill building was one story, sat on top of a retaining wall, and connected to the pedestrian bridge over the tracks. Although the photo isn't clear, it appears that the pedestrian bridge was located directly over the sculputure. In fact, the two column things on either side of the sculpture formed the support for the bridge. The wall appears to be a retaining wall only.

Well, 1907 was the very beginning of the automobile era. Ford was already making cars, but his Model T wouldn't be mass produced for another 6 years, in 1913. There was still a lot of traffic in 1907, including horse drawn, street cars, railroads, and so on. At that point, traffic was growing; 1907 saw more traffic than any year before that. Perhaps Paris led the way and every other city copied Paris. I think LeCorbusier sums it up well. From "The City of Tomorrow" by LeCorbusier, 1929 "The Great City is a recent event and dates back barely fifty years. The growth of every great city has exceeded all prevision. This growth has been a mad one, with disturbing consequences. Growth of Population 1800 1880 1910 Paris 647,000 2,200,000 3,000,000 London 800,000 3,800,000 7,200,000 Berlin 182,000 1,840,000 3,400,000 New York 60,000 2,800,000 4,500,000 We must de-congest the centres of cities in order to provide for the demand of traffic. We must increase the density of the centres of cities in order to bring about the close contact demanded by business. We must increase the means whereby traffic can circulate We must increase the area of grean and open spaces." I think it's funny that in 1907 congestion was seen as the biggest problem; today, it's population loss! LeCorbusier also had some cross-sections in his book. He says that street widths and building heights should be proportional. You can get by with a narrow street if the buildings are only one or two stories. As the building height rises, the street width should increase also. Some urban designers say that the Parisian Boulevards, lined with 6 story buildings, show the opitimum proportions for high density. Indeed, I think the Kessler rendering of Central Parkway looks really fine.

Let's see, the United States has some 150 million cars on the road. Let's see what happens if we try to replace them all with horse drawn vehicles. At 5 acres of pasture per horse, that would take 750 million acres, or over 100 million square miles, just to feed them all... Ohio has 44,000 square miles... It would take 2000 Ohios, all in pasture, to keep the horses alive... Um, I don't think horse drawn vehicles are going to replace cars. The scale of the problem is just unfathomable. I don't think conventional, gasoline powered cars are going to be replaced by hydrogen, hybrids, ethanol, electric, or horse drawn vehicles. Sure, there might be some, but in the big picture, I can't imagine cars being replaced at any scale at all. By the way, I can estimate perhaps 15 horses in that photo. Rob might have a better idea since he was there. The total power, therefore, is literally 15 horse power. That's about the power of a riding lawn mower. The numbers are very sobering.

"It is a shame that Kessler plan for Cincinnati never was followed." As Jake already said, much of it WAS followed. Columbia Parkway, Victory Parkway, Central Parkway, Ezzard Charles Drive, and others were built more or less in line with the Kessler Plan. Filson Park, Jackson Hill Park, and numerous other small parks and playgrounds were built all over town. The present Washington Park resembles the one in the Kessler Plan. Maybe we are so used to these things that we take them for granted? I also agree that the quality of drawing is excellent. Furthermore, the concept is also excellent. Compare to the 1948 plan, or more recent plans. The Kessler Plan is a work of art!

I'm not prejudiced against any part of Ohio. :-D