The second image above is the key to the names of the buildings seen in the first aerial photograph. This is rather awkward to use because it is in two parts but it was the only way I could present it. This was compiled in the 1970s. A more recent image in the 2nd view above is much more easier to use although many of the items mentioned are not buildings and some of the structures mentioned are not well known, it is still interesting. The next map is entirely different, it shows shopping, nightclubs and restaurants back in 1949. The last map (I promise) shows still more points of interest.
DIXIE TERMINAL
Arcade
The Dixie Terminal is located at the s. w. corner of 4th and Walnut. Constructed in 1921 it really consists of two structures. There is the 4 story south building which extends to 3rd Street for (at that time) the loading and unloading of passengers from streetcars from the northern Kentucky area (seen in the 6th card). Later on busses replaced the streetcar. The other structure was the 10 story north building which contain offices and shops plus the Cincinnati Stock Exchange. It is also notable for its 3 story Arcade. When it opened on October 21, 1921 it had more sq. footage than any other building in the city.
These are not postcards
The first, 1917, photograph above shows 4th Street looking east with the Dixie Terminal building on the right. The second, 1921, photo is 3rd Street looking west. You can clearly see how the streetcars, and later busses, entered and left the terminal building. They entered using the closer ramp and made a left turn inside, they then left using the second, further, ramp. These ramps led directly to the Suspension Bridge over the Ohio.
GROTON BUILDING GWYNNE BUILDING
7th and
Race
n. e. corner 6th and Main
P. & G. headquarters 1935-1956
INGALLS BUILDING
M.
Ingalls
Not a postcard
W. P. Anderson
Builder
"Pine Street"
"Ingals
Bldg."
Same card-different
traffic
Glitter "Ingolls" Color
The Ingalls Building located on the northeast corner 4th and Vine was Built in 1903 with 16 stories, it was the worlds first reinforced concrete skyscraper. Melville Ingalls, president of the Big Four Railroad, commissioned the building to house the Merchants National Bank. The project was delayed 2 years because city building officials were skeptical about the design of the 16-story building- a unheard of height for a concrete building in those days. Skeptics predicted that the building would collapse of its own weight. Finally the city building commissioner washed his hands of the whole thing and declared that Ingalls and the construction firm would be responsible for any accidents if it failed. Once completed in 1903 it is said that a local editor stood by along with other spectators waiting for it to collapse. It was renamed the Transit Building and then the ACI Building before becoming the headquarters for Queen City Metro. It was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1973 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
MERCHANTS BUILDING
n. w. corner 6th and College
OHIO MECHANICS INSTITUTE
Woodshop
National Army Training
The O. M. I. is the oldest technical school west of the Alleghenies. Beginning in 1828 it has been located in several sites. The first card above shows Greenwood Hall at 6th & Vine where the O. M. I. was housed from 1848 until 1911 when it moved into the building shown in the other cards on the n. e. corner of Walnut and Canal (now Central Parkway). Greenwood Hall is where a young Thomas Edison read at the school's Apprentice's Library while working in Cincinnati as a telegraph operator. The founder, Miles Greenwood, was a manufacturer of iron products and was Cincinnati's first fire chief. This site was where Greenwood's Eagle Iron Works was located. In the last card I have no idea what kind of training the army was getting. O.M.I. is now part of the University of Cincinnati but still uses the building shown above.
The following non-postcard images are all from the institutes 1927 annual.
Entrance
Main
Stairway
Roof
Garden
Conservatory
Chemistry
Lab
Machine
Shop
Mechanical Lab & Power Plant
THE WESTERN & SOUTHERN LIFE INSURANCE CO.
The Dexter mansion
The beautiful engraving above is of the Dexter Mansion that was located on the northeast corner of 4th and Broadway. Built in 1856 by Edmund Dexter who had made his fortune as an importer of liquors. It was considered one of Cincinnati's finest residences. In 1910 the Western Southern Life Insurance Company took over the home for offices and in 1914 the company demolished it to make room for its new building seen in the cards below.
West side of Broadway between fourth and Fifth Sts.
TRACTION BUILDING
On the s. w.
corner of 5th and Walnut. The Building you
see behind it is the Mercantile Library Building.
FOR MORE DOWNTOWN BUILDINGS:
