Completed in 1878 the two basins
covered a total of 12 acres. The east basin retaining wall consisted of eight
elliptical arches, each spanning 55'. The length was 1,250'. The width at the
base was 48.5', tapering to 25' on the top walk. These basins were cleaned in
alternate years and everything was found from wrecked cars to suicide victims.
When ever this cleaning took place municipal picnics, complete with music and
dancing were held inside the empty basin. Although chemical purification of city water
began in 1907 at the new water plant upriver at California, the Eden Park
reservoir remained in use. In the 1960s the stone retaining wall of the
lower/eastern basin was largely removed and the basin filled in for ball fields.
The upper/western basin was made deeper to increase its capacity to 80,000,000
gallons. The reservoir was used until 1965 when it was covered with a shallow 3/4 acre reflecting pool.
The building with the tall stack you see in many
of these cards was the old pumping station. Built in 1894 it was closed in the
early twentieth century. In 1939 it was converted into the radio station for the
Cincinnati Police Department. It was station WKDU, 500 watts, at 1706
kilocycles. In the 1980s the facility was dismantled. I don't know what it is
used for now.
The first card gives you an excellent
overhead view of the reservoir. The first card in the second row must have been
taken from the opposite side of the reservoir looking towards Mt. Adams,
otherwise it makes no sense to me at all.
Real Photo postcards
Not a postcard
The lithograph above shows the construction of the southern half of the reservoir. The 2nd image shows the reservoir being filled in 1906.
The next eight cards show a hot house that was in the style of a Swiss cottage. It housed plants for viewing and cultivated flowers that were planted in Eden Park. This greenhouse was in use until the Krohn Conservatory was constructed in 1933. The Krohn Conservatory can be seen on the next page. The 3rd card below says Baker's Pass. That is what the carriage-way on top of the retaining wall was called. David Baker Pass was the public official who encouraged the reservoir project.
The building you see in the 4th non-postcard image above is a close up of the building you see with the smoke stack in all the cards above and below. Constructed in 1939 it was used by the Cincinnati Fire Department as their Fire alarm Telegraph Office (along with the one inside City Hall). The telegraph machine received signals from tripped fire alarm boxes and punched the box's number onto long reels of paper. Dispatch workers would then transmit this number to all engine companies. Each company had a set of cards listing which number boxes it was required to respond to. Fires were dispatched from this building until 1988 when the city began using 911 emergency response dispatch.
Real Photo
Private Mailing
Card
Not a postcard
Party held in empty reservoir
Three winter scenes of the reservoir
FOR MORE EDEN PARK CARDS
