Last weekend, I took a history tour of Over the Rhine in
Cincinnati. Every time I travel to a new city, I take a history tour if one is
offered. Tours are one of my favorite ways to learn about the history of a city
or neighborhood. I have taken tours in Cincinnati, Charleston, Savannah,
Chicago, The French Quarter in New Orleans, The Garden District in New Orleans,
and Montgomery Alabama. Although all of the history is very interesting to me,
some tours are better than others. My two favorite tours were the French Quarter
and Over the Rhine because the tour guides were the most knowledgeable and passionate
about history. I could tell that it was more than just a job for them.
I love
the tours because the history guides take groups into historic buildings, which
I love. It is more than just looking at historic architecture, though. The guides
explain who lived in the houses, what activities went on in the buildings, what
cultures populated the neighborhood, how they made their living, how they had
fun, how they dealt with tough times through history like wars and prohibition,
and how the neighborhood became what it is today.
Over
the Rhine has a very interesting story. OTR was first inhabited by German
immigrants in the mid nineteenth century. It was called Over the Rhine because
the Miami-Erie canal reminded them of the Rhine in Germany. Some say it was
actually a derogatory term used by the English, or the “natives” as they
referred to themselves, to refer to the Germans on the other side of the canal.
OTR has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. It is filled with so many stories and so
much history. It’s too much for one blog, but I will show you all some photos
that I took with explanations just to show what the tours include.
Below is a photo of a building that was originally called the People's Theatre. Here, the people of OTR could see various shows, such as boxing matches, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, and Annie Oakley shows, and Burlesque shows. Now, a pizza place called Venice on Vine is located in this building where the lobby and saloon once were. It is not just any restaurant, though. It operates as an educational program to provide job training for inner city residents. If you are ever in OTR, check out Venice on Vine. Some of the decorative plasterwork has been preserved.
The next photos are of what used to be an apartment building in OTR. This was my favorite stop because I thought this old apartment complex gave a good description of how the lower and middle class residents of OTR lived back in the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s. The guide said that the lower class lived in the back part of the complex. The rooms were smaller, they had no balconies, and the views were not like the front apartment views. The photo below shows the back part of the complex.
The photo below shows the front portion of the apartment complex. The residents had a street view, bigger rooms, and balconies. We were standing in a courtyard that looked like it could have been a lovely place to relax on a nice day, but that was not the case back then. The courtyard was were the residents used the privy.
Below is a photo of the apartment building that is currently under construction. Like so many historic buildings in OTR, it has been saved and it will be safe for the OTR residents to live in once again.
The reason I love OTR is because it has such an interesting past and everyone there seems so passionate about the history of their community. The tour guide explained that OTR is fixing up housing for the less fortunate so that they may remain in their neighborhood and homes. My tour guide, John, said that a long time OTR resident came to him one day and explained how excited she was, after all the years of it being a very dangerous neighborhood, that it was starting to feel like a nice community again. There is a debate on gentrification of OTR, but that will have to be a discussion for another time.
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