Historic Mount Adams by Marian Knight

egend has it that the picturesque hillside community of Mount Adams was Li originally called Mount Ida in honor of its first recorded resident. This was Ida Martin, who, it is said, lived alone in a hollow sycamore tree on the hill a little north of Fox's sawmill east of Deer Creek. During its earliest years —the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth—Mount Ida was little more than a forested hill with footpaths of mud and rock. The Reverend James Kemper, 's first minister, is credited with building the first roadway in 1793. Over it he transported his family and household goods up the side of Mount Ida and through the forests of what is now Eden Park to an outlying district called Walnut Hills. Part of this original corduroy road, Observatory Road, became Monastery Street; the other two access routes to the hill were East Court Street, now Wareham Drive, and the Road to the Hill, now Hill Street. In 1830 Mount Ida was acquired by that fantastically successful real estate entrepreneur and patron of the arts, Nicholas Longworth. Longworth turned his newest piece of property into a terraced vineyard where, after long experi- mentation with various grape cuttings, he produced the sparkling Catawba wine that became celebrated around the world as Golden Wedding Champagne. As generous as he was ambitious, Longworth shortly thereafter gave four acres of his hilltop to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, another ambitious Cincinnatian, who built the nation's first professionally-equipped astronomical observatory on this site. Former President John Quincy Adams made the arduous journey from Massachusetts to Cincinnati to deliver the address when the observatory was dedicated on November 9, 1843. In his honor, the name of the suburb was changed from Mount Ida to Mount Adams. With the observatory, Mount Adams began to develop intellectually and economically as well as agriculturally. A limestone quarry, a wooden shoe factory, and a fireworks factory were among the diverse trades pursued atop Mount Adams in pre-Civil War days. Adjacent to his fireworks enterprise, Harrison Diehl established one of the city's most popular attractions: the Pyro- technic Garden, or The Pyro. Dazzling displays—as well as some unplanned explosions and fires—provided spectacular entertainment for strollers and picnickers. These two early landmarks, the observatory and the Pyro, were displaced

27 by landmarks equally famous and still in existence. When the observatory abandoned its site in 1872, moving to Mount Lookout to escape industrial smoke and dirt (yes, they had air pollution in those days too), the land was acquired by the Order of Passionist Fathers for the Holy Cross Church and Monastery. The monastery, housed in the crumbling observatory building, was adjacent to the original frame church, erected in 1873 as a parish church for the English-speaking (predominantly Irish) Catholics of the hill. The present Italian Renaissance-style church was dedicated in 1895, to be followed five years later by the construction of a larger and more substantial monastery. Today, towering some four hundred feet above the River, the Holy Cross Monastery and the Holy Cross Church with its distinctive 130-foot-high cam- panile are two of Cincinnati's most unusual and visible landmarks. As for the old Pyro Garden, it eventually gave way to the world-renowned firm known as Rookwood Pottery, founded by Mrs. Maria Longworth Nichols Storer in 1880. The pottery had moved to the hill from its original Eastern Avenue site in 1892. Within its picturesque English Tudor buildings a variety of art pottery was designed by many distinguished artists. After a long but uneven reign marred by cyclical variations in quality, the production of Rook- wood ceramics in Cincinnati ended in i960. The buildings have been attrac- tively maintained as office space for numerous small firms. Like several other Cincinnati suburbs, Mount Adams truly came into its own with the installation of the Mount Adams Incline in 1876. The fourth of the city's five inclined planes, this was the most successful and enjoyed the longest tenure, continuing operation until 1948. At the top of the incline was the famous Highland House, by all odds the most popular of the four hilltop houses. Lavish food and drink, orchestral and operatic music, conventions and social gatherings, an outdoor beer garden, dancing and theater, all were part of the glamorous heyday of the Highland House in the 1880's. After a period of rather ungraceful decline, it closed its doors in 1895. On the site today stands a modern high-rise apartment, appropriately named Highland Towers. One other landmark that cannot be omitted from even a brief listing is the Immaculata: the Church of the . Crowning the peak of Mount Adams and commanding a sweeping view of the , the Kentucky hills, and Cincinnati's downtown basin, this venerable Roman Cath- olic structure was dedicated in December i860 and later served as the parish for the hill's German-speaking natives. From the beginning it established a custom unique in Cincinnati and rare throughout the world—"Praying the Steps." Worshippers recite a brief prayer on each of the steps leading from St. Gregory Street below to the very door of the church. This pilgrimage is a con- tinuing Good Friday tradition in Cincinnati. Present-day Mount Adams retains its sturdy religious and artistic customs and has added some interesting new ones. Today, such cultural influences as the Playhouse in the Park, the Art Museum and Art Academy, the Museum of

28 Natural History, and the Cincinnati Historical Society in neighboring Eden Park share attention with modest art galleries, arty gift and antique shops, boutiques, and entertainment spots. Many fashionable townhouses now dot the hill, rubbing elbows with brightly redecorated houses and untouched old dwellings. Taken all in all, Mount Adams' rich history, colorful traditions, and lively atmosphere make it perhaps the most exciting area of the Queen City.

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In the 1850's when the slopes of Mount Adams were terraced for the vineyards of Nicholas Longworth, the only visible landmarks were the Astronomical Observatory and the spectator tower of the Pyrotechnic Garden.

The Mount Adams Incline, in oper- ation from 1876 to 1948, enjoyed the longest tenure of the city's five inclined planes. It started at Lock Street and bridged Kilgour, Baum, and Oregon Streets before reaching Celestial Street at the top. ' Adjacent to the incline's powerhouse was the bustling Highland House, a year- round resort with entertainment and rec- reation to suit every taste. Frank Harff, owner and •promoter, advertised that "the views from all parts of the house and grounds, and especially from the espla- nade, belvedere and balconies, are unequaled on this Continent."

Mount Adams' Catholic traditions were as sturdy as its principal settlers, the Germans and the Irish. Immaculata Church, opposite, served the German-speaking resi- dents of the hill while Holy Cross, above, was for many years the church home of the Irish. The inaccessibility of the hill allowed it to become somewhat of a recluse among suburbs. One circuitous route was East Fifth Street, opposite, to East Court Street, above, which passed through the shadow of a shaky wooden trestle from 1882 until 1931 when the concrete Ida Street bridge was constructed.

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In 1800 Cincinnatians hoped, in vain, that their village of 750 would be chosen over Chillicothe as the new state's capital. (Lithograph by The Strobridge Company, after a painting by A. J. Swing)