Madness.

Which would you rather have -- retro stadiums and steroids or farm boys in flying saucers?    

 

How about neither.

Care to explain the connection between new baseball (and football, basketball, football, and soccer) stadiums and better living through better chemistry?

I think the date on JMECKS website may be correct- the 1950s.There was no mass destruction of buildings after the 37 flood-probably only Cumminsville/Northside where the fires were. There is a photo of the westend (almost a companion to the photo at the top of this thread) it is of Laurel Homes pjs.It begins sort of where Manorborn suggested LH should be-just across Linn from Washburn.The photo is on the LOCs American Memory"Built in America" site. Type in Laurel Homes.If you save it then magnify it you can clearly see the area around Crosley is much much more intact even than in the original photo posted on this thread,so JMECKS photo is obviosly at the very least from the 40's and probably in the 50's as there appears to have been some significant demo around Crosley. But what is really cool (in the magnified photo) you can see Brighton Bridge,Harrison ave and Western Hills viaducts,and the eastern portions of the Westend (mohawk etc.) I think you'll really be blown away. The density of the basin is almost impossible for us to comprehend today.Did anyone catch the article in last weeks CIN WEEKLY  about the 125th anniversary of the Art Museum? They printed a timeline and under the heading of "LATE 1880's" it says "Cincinnati has the densest population in the US, with 300,000 citizens packed in at 37,000 per square mile". AMAZING! SIMPLY AMAZING!!

Did anyone catch the article in last weeks CIN WEEKLY  about the 125th anniversary of the Art Museum? They printed a timeline and under the heading of "LATE 1880's" it says "Cincinnati has the densest population in the US, with 300,000 citizens packed in at 37,000 per square mile". AMAZING! SIMPLY AMAZING!!

 

i can appreciate the cin weekly boosterism, but something to bring that final densest pop in the usa remark back down to earth:

http://www.demographia.com/db-nyc-ward1800.htm

 

David I have always loved that photo, I have it on my site too.

As for Crosley, I am too young by a few years to have seen it in person but I guarantee you all it was a dump.  Because all of the old stadiums were dumps. 

 

Hi,

 

Yep this topic has some age to it but I haven't had time to read all of the older posts that looked interesting.

 

I'll have to disagree with Crosley being a dump.  Sure the seats were hard and the wood benches in the outfield were harder; but the place was reasonably clean and I got to see Frank Robinson, Jim Maloney, Joey Jay, Gordie Coleman, Vada Pinson, Pete, Johnny and a lot of other great guys play against other great players like Willie Mays (who shook my hand and actually spoke to me while he autographed my scorecard!), Roberto Clemente (who was "Bob" back then), Hank Aaron, etc.

 

I really liked the photo from 1962 as I can remember walking across the dirt where I-75 is to get to the park.  I also remember my Dad paying off people in the neighborhood to watch the car.

 

The opening of Riverfront Stadium was fun too (I went to the 2nd game at Riverfront - the first sold out too quickly) and it was cleaner and more comfortable.  But I never had a nosebleed at Crosley Field.....

I haven't seen this thread before, wow is that first picture amazing!

They debated back at the beginning of this post as to what year that first picture is.   I have read some saying as early as 1930's.   

 

Isn't that not I-75 they are making a path for just east of Crosley?     

 

I would guess late 50's but I don't know for sure what year they started cutting the city up for 75 construction.    I know the second photo of Crosley is in color and thier are less buildings and more surface lots but I think both were taken in a 5 year period with different camera technology.

 

Not for sure though,      My grandfather said he moved out of the West End in the 50's so I am assuming most of the Queensgate area was still in tact going into the 60's......      ????????????????

 

 

Is the big white building south of Crosley, the Post Office?    If it is, we could find out what year that was built.

They debated back at the beginning of this post as to what year that first picture is.  I have read some saying as early as 1930's. 

 

Isn't that not I-75 they are making a path for just east of Crosley?   

 

I would guess late 50's but I don't know for sure what year they started cutting the city up for 75 construction.    I know the second photo of Crosley is in color and thier are less buildings and more surface lots but I think both were taken in a 5 year period with different camera technology.

 

Not for sure though,      My grandfather said he moved out of the West End in the 50's so I am assuming most of the Queensgate area was still in tact going into the 60's......      ????????????????

 

Is the big white building south of Crosley, the Post Office?    If it is, we could find out what year that was built.

 

Hi,

 

The large white building is the post office.  The street running at a diagonal along the east end of Crosley is Western Avenue.  The path of I-75 follows Western through that area. 

 

As ManorBorn mentions Laurel homes is not present on the right side of the aerial photo across from Washburn School.  The photo below is from the book "Cincinnati The Queen City" which was compiled by John G. Kidd and published in 1938.  Since Laurel Homes isn't shown in the aerial view then the photo has to date from 1933 (Union Terminal completed) and 1938 (Laurel Homes completed).  Washburn is the "U" shaped building along the center of the left side in this picture.

 

Steve

Interesting!

^^That makes me sick to my stomach.

There isn't a neighborhood in Cincinnati that I wouldn't like to visit circa 1915 or 1950, but the West End is the most obvious example of what has disappeared.  Large amounts of industrial/manufacturing, warehousing, along with the residential and retail that co-existed with industry in the pre-gasoline days.  One thing to keep in mind is that by the time the massive destruction of the 1950's and 60's occurred the West End was a really run-down slum.

 

Somewhere I recall reading that the United States Chamber of Commerce (I think this is right as it's been a while since I read this information) regarded the West End as the worst slum in the United States around 1950.  Not the kind of national recognition that a town really wants.  I've often wondered if the big bend to the west that I-75 makes was an intentional routing to clear away more of the buildings in that area.

 

There was a cluster of buildings (2-3-4 story residential & commercial) that survived until 1980 or so in the area where the Enquirer printing plant now stands going over to Dalton Street.  I wish I had been bright enough to take photos....

Hi,

 

O.K., there was mention of flooding in the West End during 1937.  The river running up through the center of this photo away from the Ohio is the Millcreek.  On the right you can tell that the streets in the West End were flooded.  Look at the river level on the railroad bridge over to Ludlow (trains are still running).  Looks to be only 12-15 feet under the bridge!

 

It's difficult to see but Union Terminal is surrounded by water and the 8th Street and Western Hills viaducts also have water just under the roadways.  So, does this mean the barrier dam was a good idea....

 

Steve

Holy crap, that photo is unreal.  I can't believe that is Union Terminal surrounded by water.  If you have any more please post in a new thread under the Ohio Photos section.

That is wild!