Downtown Buildings 1

 


Buildings.jpg (816217 bytes)Key to Buildings.jpg (365290 bytes)  downtown-aerial4.jpg (199453 bytes)  1949 Entertainment Map.jpg (863296 bytes)  Building location map 4.jpg (473481 bytes)

   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

Dixie Terminal.jpg (941073 bytes) photographs Dixie Terminal.jpg (538244 bytes)
Ceiling of lobby                                                             

 

Dixie Terminal 1.jpg (113800 bytes)    Dixie Terminal 2.jpg (115520 bytes)    Dixie Term-aa.jpg (141341 bytes)    Dixie Interior 1.jpg (103949 bytes)    Dixie Interior 2.jpg (117761 bytes)    Dixie Interior 3.jpg (92199 bytes)
                                 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.

Dixie Terminal-1917.jpg (131908 bytes)            Dixie Terminal-3rd St. 1921.jpg (185624 bytes)
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                

Groton Building 1.jpg (104335 bytes)        Groton Building 2.jpg (100250 bytes)                    Gwynne Building 1.jpg (126730 bytes)        Gwynne Building 2.jpg (103426 bytes)        Gwynne Bldg-a2.jpg (103417 bytes)
7th and Race                                                     n. e. corner 6th and Main     
                                                                      P. & G. headquarters 1935-1956

 

INGALLS  BUILDING

M.Ingalls.jpg (306812 bytes)                Ingall Construction.jpg (574894 bytes)                W.P.Anderson-builder.jpg (210940 bytes)
      M. Ingalls                              Not a postcard                          W. P. Anderson
                                                                                                      Builder

 

Ingals Building 1.jpg (105748 bytes)      Ingals Building 2.jpg (84051 bytes)      Ingalls-aa.jpg (110159 bytes)      Ingalls-bb.jpg (101343 bytes)      Ingalls-cc.jpg (136503 bytes)      Ingalls bldg-1a.jpg (103438 bytes)
                                                                                                                                                                             "Pine Street"

 

Ingalls bldg-1b.jpg (85727 bytes)      Ingalls bldg-1c.jpg (97227 bytes)      Ingalls bldg-1d.jpg (114882 bytes)      Ingalls bldg-1e.jpg (107812 bytes)      Ingalls bldg-1f.jpg (76309 bytes)      Ingolls-ax.jpg (92299 bytes)
                  "Ingals Bldg."                                        Same card-different traffic                    Glitter    "Ingolls"    Color             

 

Ingalls Building,.jpg (43287 bytes)

   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

Merchants Building 1.jpg (95326 bytes)        Merchants Building 2.jpg (119220 bytes)
n. w. corner 6th and College

 

OHIO MECHANICS INSTITUTE

Ohio Mechanics Institute 1.jpg (106188 bytes)    Ohio Mechanics Institute 2.jpg (124540 bytes)    OMI-9.jpg (328981 bytes)    OMI-ab.jpg (133764 bytes)    OMI-aa.jpg (130084 bytes)

 

Mechanics Institute-bb.jpg (124165 bytes)    OMI-8.jpg (345087 bytes)    Mechanics Institute-cc.jpg (111721 bytes)    OMI-7.jpg (331811 bytes)    Mechanics Institute-aa.jpg (119210 bytes)

 

OMI-woodshop.jpg (112896 bytes)                OMI Army Training Detachment.jpg (302067 bytes)
       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.

OMI Entrance.jpg (443934 bytes)        OMI Main Stairway.jpg (531097 bytes)        OMI Roof.jpg (497217 bytes)        OMI Conservatory.jpg (634702 bytes)
    Entrance                                Main Stairway                          Roof Garden                            Conservatory

 

OMI Chemistry Lab.jpg (438301 bytes)        OMI Machine Shop.jpg (412647 bytes)            OMI Mech. Lab & Power Plant.jpg (450383 bytes)
              Chemistry  Lab                          Machine Shop             Mechanical Lab & Power Plant

 

THE WESTERN & SOUTHERN LIFE INSURANCE CO.

Dexter Residence 1858-1914 4th & Broadway.jpg (865852 bytes)
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. 

W and S Life Insurance 1.jpg (142296 bytes)    W and S Life Insurance 2.jpg (193904 bytes)    West & South Ins-1a.jpg (105418 bytes)    Western Southern-aa.jpg (103101 bytes)    Western Southern-bb.jpg (137514 bytes)
West side of Broadway between fourth and Fifth Sts.

 

TRACTION  BUILDING

Traction Building 1.jpg (124292 bytes)            Traction Building 2.jpg (111849 bytes)            Traction Building-21.jpg (240983 bytes)            Traction Building 4.jpg (112942 bytes)            Traction Building 6.jpg (121467 bytes)

 

Traction Building 5.jpg (66727 bytes)            traction-a1.jpg (80426 bytes)            traction-a2.jpg (106923 bytes)            traction-a3.jpg (111927 bytes)

 

Traction Building horz 1.jpg (115762 bytes)                Traction Building 2 horiz.jpg (121015 bytes)                Skyscrapers-aa.jpg (95989 bytes)
On the s. w. corner of 5th and Walnut. The Building you see behind it is the Mercantile Library Building.

 

FOR MORE DOWNTOWN BUILDINGS: