Over-the-Rhine

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This article is about the Cincinnati neighborhood. For the Ohio-based band, see Over the Rhine.
Over-the-Rhine Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic District
Over-the-Rhine is located in Ohio
Over-the-Rhine
Location: Roughly bounded by Dorsey, Sycamore, Liberty, Reading, Central Pkwy, McMicken Ave., and Vine Sts., Cincinnati, Ohio
Coordinates: 39°6′52″N 84°30′54″W / 39.11444°N 84.515°W / 39.11444; -84.515
Area: 3,625 acres
Architectural style(s): Greek Revival and Late Victorian[1]
Governing body: Local, Private and State[1]
Added to NRHP: May 17, 1983[1]
NRHP Reference#: 83001985[1]

Over-the-Rhine, sometimes shortened to OTR, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Downtown, CUF, Mount Auburn, Pendleton, and the West End. Over-the-Rhine is a historic district, treasured for its massive collection of 19th century Italianate structures, that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 17, 1983 with 943 contributing buildings. In 2006, Over-the-Rhine was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of "Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places."[2] Once the home of nineteenth century German immigrants, by the end of the twentieth century Over-the-Rhine had become Cincinnati's most infamous ghetto.[3] In 2001 the neighborhood gained international media attention when it was at the center of a race riot.[4] In 2008 a local news agency reported a "revival in Over-the-Rhine" due to an increase in gentrification as well as reduction in crime in all categories.[5] In 2009 a website, using data collected from 2005 to 2007, ranked a section of Over-the-Rhine north of Liberty Street as, statistically, the "most dangerous neighborhood in the United States."[6][7][8]

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The neighborhood's distinctive name comes from its builders and early residents, German immigrants, many of whom made a daily trek across bridges over the Miami and Erie Canal which separated the area from downtown Cincinnati. The canal was referred to as "the Rhine" in reference to the Rhine River in Germany. So if one needed to go to the German part of town they would need to cross "Over the Rhine."[3][9]

An early reference to the canal as the "Rhine" appears in an 1852 letter by writer and traveler Theresa Pulszky, in which she wrote, "the Germans live all together across the Miami Canal, which is, therefore, here jocosely called the 'Rhine.'"[10] In his 1875 book Daniel J. Kenny refered to the area exclusively as "Over the Rhine,"[11] and noted "Germans and Americans alike love to call the district 'Over the Rhine.'"[11]

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Former location of the canal.

Construction of the Miami and Erie Canal reached Main Street in Cincinnati in 1829.[12] During this time most of Over-the-Rhine was not well developed, particularly the area north of present-day Liberty Street.[13] An 1838 map shows an "orphan asylum" located where Music Hall now sits, and Washington Park was occupied by burial grounds for Presbyterians and Episcopals.[13]

[edit] German neighborhood

From the first days of Cincinnati there were German immigrants, but they immigrated in large numbers during the 1840s due to revolutionary troubles in Germany.[14] The German population tended to cluster at the northern part of the city, now present-day Over-the-Rhine, while the native-born Americans were in the center of the city and the Irish immigrants near the banks of the Ohio River.[15]

14th and Clay Street in Over-the-Rhine.

In 1850 approximately 60 percent of Over-the-Rhine's population consisted of immigrants from various German states including Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony.[16][17] The neighborhood was diverse but took on a "German" character.[17] The new immigrants brought with them a variety of customs, habits, attitudes, and dialects of the German language.[17] They also displayed a range of religions, occupations, and classes, and this diversity characterized the Over-the-Rhine German community for the rest of the century.[17] The community was served by several German newspapers, including the Volksfreund, Volksblatt, and the Freie Presse.

It was during this period that many of the streets, parks, and buildings in Over-the-Rhine were constructed.[18] Some of the German elements are still visible today. For example, the German Baptist Church, Philippus United Church of Christ, Trinity Methodist Church, Salem United Church of Christ and many other neighborhood churches have inscriptions in German and Latin. Old St. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1842, is the oldest standing church in Cincinnati and still holds Mass in German and Latin every Sunday.

German entrepreneurs gradually built up a profitable brewing industry that became identified with Over-the-Rhine.[17] The brewing industry tended to concentrate along McMicken Avenue and the Miami and Erie canal with the Jackson Brewery, J. G. John & Sons Brewery, Christian Moerlein Brewing Company, and John Kauffman Brewing Company in this area and John Hauck and Windisch-Mulhauser Brewing Companies across the canal in the West End.[17] By 1880 Cincinnati was recognized as the "Beer Capitol of the World."[19]

Wielert's, one of Over-the-Rhine's most popular saloons, in 1875. Wielert's still stands at 1408 Vine Street, albeit unused.

During the nineteenth century most Cincinnatians regarded Over-the-Rhine as the city's premier entertainment district.[16] An 1875 book called Illustrated Cincinnati reads, "London has its Greenwich, Paris its Bois, Vienna its Prater, Brussels its Arcade and Cincinnati its 'Over the Rhine.'"[20] The author writes Over-the-Rhine is where a visitor would go if "he is bent on pleasure and a holiday."[20] He continues, "there is nothing like it in Europe—no transition so sudden, so pleasant, and so easily effected. ... There is nothing comparable to the the completeness of the change brought about by stepping across the canal. The visitor leaves behind him at almost a single step the rigidity of the American, the everlasting hurry and worry of the insatiate race for wealth, the inappeasable thirst of Dives, and enters at once into the borders of people more readily happy, more readily contented, more easily pleased, far more closely wedded to music and the dance, to the song, and life in the bright, open air."[20]

Before Cincinnati's incline system was built in the 1870s the city's population density was a staggering 32,000 people per square mile.[21] By contrast, in 2000 Cincinnati's population density was 3,879.8 people per square mile. There were various epidemics during the nineteenth century that made the city's basin area an undesirable place to live. Early in Cincinnati's history a small pox epidemic killed one-third of the population.[22] In 1832, 1834, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1866, and 1873 there were cholera outbreaks of various sizes that killed thousands and caused much hysteria.[23][24][25][26] In 1892 an outbreak of typhoid fever also caused hysteria.[27] Before it was understood how diseases were spread many people believed that vaporous emanations from the Miami and Erie Canal were the cause of malaria.[28] (Later this was used as an argument for turning the canal into a subway system and parkway.[29]) In addition to overcrowding and disease those who lived in the basin suffered through floods, open sewers and thick industrial smoke.[30] Unsurprisingly, those who could relocate to the new suburbs in the surrounding hills did so.[31]

Music Hall was built for the Cincinnati May Festival, which is rooted in German Saengerfests.

The neighborhood, and upper Vine Street in particular, consisted of a large number of saloons, restaurants, shooting galleries, arcades, gambling dens, dance halls, burlesque halls, and theaters.[16] Starting in the 1840s the number of saloons in the area grew steadily.[32] By 1890 Court Street had 34 saloons, Liberty Street 41, Walnut Street and Main Street 55, Central Avenue 100, and Vine Street a remarkable 136 saloons.[33] This gave Over-the-Rhine a bad reputation among some of the city's "respectable" people, with one describing it as having "all the tarnished tinsel of a Bohemianism with the trimmings of a gutter and the morals of a sewer."[16] In 1893 the author of Illustrated Cincinnati recanted his enthusiasm, writing, "Fifteen or twenty years ago the resident or visitor had no sooner entered the northern districts of the city lying beyond Court street across the canal than he found himself in another atmosphere, in all outward seeming almost like a foreign land. Germans and Americans alike loved to call the region 'Over the Rhine.' ... All or nearly all the leading characteristics which won for it the appellation have passed away. ... The only thing this section of the city is now noted for besides noisy concert and drinking halls and cheap theaters is the great breweries, for which Cincinnati has become so renowned."[34]

Historical populations
Year Pop.  %±
1900 44,475 —
1960 30,000 −32.5%
1970 15,025 −49.9%
1980 11,914 −20.7%
1990 9,572 −19.7%
2000 7,422 −22.5%

At the turn of the 20th century, the population of the neighborhood reached its height at 45,000 residents and the percentage of Germans and German-Americans in Over-the-Rhine also peaked at an estimated 75% of the population.[17] By 1915 the physical fabric and unsavory reputation of Over-the-Rhine still remain intact,[31] but the immigrant population of the neighborhood had decreased because new immigrants were being drawn to the rapidly growing cities around the Great Lakes region.[35] Over-the-Rhine was still somewhat diverse and densely populated, although all the prosperous people had left for the suburbs.[35] At this time the neighborhood could be seen as a characteristically American slum, an old and declining area of mixed peoples and mixed land uses that formed a band of similar neighborhoods around Cincinnati's central business district.[35] Many people thought Over-the-Rhine would eventually disappear, swallowed up by the city's growing business district.[31]

Many German-Americans felt a sense of pride and nationalism for their homeland, and early victories by Germany during World War I were openly celebrated—particularly by Cincinnati's German language newspapers, the Volksblatt and the Freie Presse.[36] To show their support $140,000 was raised by Cincinnatians for German war victims.[36] As the likelihood of the United States entering the war increased, the pro-German rhetoric of Cincinnati's German newspapers infuriated xenophobic "nativists."[37] This distrust would later boil over into anti-German hysteria. (It's worth noting that antisemitism was virtually non-existent in Cincinnati as in 1914 Frederick S. Spiegel, a Prussian-born Jew, was elected as Cincinnati's mayor.[38])

Christian Moerlein Brewery around the turn of the twentieth century.

In 1917, the year the United States declared war on Germany, half of all Cincinnatians spoke the German language, and many citizens spoke only German.[39] In 1918 anti-German sentiment grew so high that unnaturalized German males 14 and older were forced to register as alien enemies.[40] An ordinance was passed to change all German street names in the city[40]—in Over-the-Rhine Bremen Street became Republic Street and Hanover Street became Yukon Street.[41] German schools were closed, German teachers were dismissed and teaching German was banned in Ohio public schools.[40][41] The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County withdrew all German books from its shelves.[42][40] In denial of everything German saloons stopped selling pretzels, restaurants began to sell "liberty cabbage" instead of sauerkraut, doctors diagnosed "liberty measles" instead of German measles. Many German-Americans changed their names out of fear of persecution, and businesses with German names changed them to stay alive.[41] This was especially difficult for the residents of Over-the-Rhine, as that year the New York Times wrote, "when one spoke of going 'over the Rhine,' as the canal was called, he meant that he was disappearing into a realm where all English was left behind."[43] (Cincinnati's German heritage would continue being suppressed until after World War II.[41])

The worst news for Over-the-Rhine came in 1919 when Prohibition deemed it illegal to own or brew alcohol. During the war with Germany the prohibitionists skillfully used the political climate of the day to paint those who opposed prohibition as being "pro-German."[44] Virtually over night all of the neighborhood's saloons, as well as Over-the-Rhine's nearly 30 breweries[45] were closed. Most businesses tried to limp along by serving or brewing "near beer" and soft drinks, but few survived. By the end of the 1920s the demise of the Cincinnati brewing industry was virtually complete.[46] The three most prominent Cincinnati breweries all fell causality to Prohibition—Moerlein, Hauck, and Windisch-Muhlhauser.[47]

That same year the "Rhine," the Miami and Erie Canal, was drained and construction began on the Cincinnati Subway. Central Parkway, which follows the path of the Miami and Erie canal, runs over top of the failed subway system's tunnels, which still exist today.

Thus the exodus of the German population from Over-the-Rhine in the early twentieth century was exasperated by better living conditions elsewhere; anti-German sentiment during World War I; prohibition, which over the course of 13 years devastated the neighborhood's brewing industry and hundreds of saloons; and pressure from the expanding business district.[48] In the 1920s a city report noted that the remaining German population had begun migrating to "a hilltop district between Eden Park and Avondale."[48]

[edit] Slum clearance

Aerial view of the neighborhood.

Starting in the 1920s the city government decided to take drastic, and expensive, efforts to revitalize Cincinnati through slum clearance campaigns.[49] Slums were seen as cancerous entities that if remained unchecked would infect and destroy nearby neighborhoods,[50] so slum clearance was seen as both responsible and democratic at the time.[50] A 1925 master plan called for razing residental buildings in the West End and Over-the-Rhine and rezoning the basin for commercial, industrial, and civic uses only.[51][52]

Until the basin neighborhoods were ready to be reconfigured as part of the city's business district they would serve as temporary housing for poor newcomers.[52] However, the stock market crash and Great Depression convinced the Planning Commission to delay the elimination of residential housing from the basin.[53] In the 1930s there were several attempts to secure loans for the clearance of the West End and Over-the-Rhine, but all failed due to lack of local financing.[54]

By the 1950s slum clearance was ruled out because it too closely resembled the social engineering practices committed by the Nazi and Soviet governments against their own people.[50] Instead, civic theories evolved and Over-the-Rhine was rethought as a historic area worth preserving and converting into a "chic" downtown neighborhood.[55]

[edit] Appalachian neighborhood

In the 1940s a booming war-stimulated economy drew hundreds of thousands of migrants from Appalachia to cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.[56] In the 1950s, the automation of mining and the rise of oil made the demand for coal sharply drop.[56] In search of work coal miners from Kentucky and West Virginia flocked to the inner cities and settled in neighborhoods like Lower Price Hill and Over-the-Rhine.[56][57] Both neighborhood's were adjacent to the highly industrialized Mill Creek Valley, where work was literally within walking distance.[57]

In the 1960s the "mountaineers" were so prevalent in the neighborhood that there were plans to use Over-the-Rhine as a "port of entry" for all white Appalachian migrants.[58] Appalachians were seen as a unique ethnic group with special needs that suffered from prejudices and negative stereotypes just as other minority groups.[59][58] Some Appalachians struggled in the inner-city due to indifference towards formal education, suspicion of modern medical pactices, pride in poverty as a religious virtue, and racial prejudices.[60][61] To showcase mountain culture and handicrafts the first Cincinnati Appalachian Festival was held at Music Hall in 1971.[59][62] The festival is still held annually, although it moved to Coney Island due to its growth in size.[62]

[edit] African-American neighborhood

African-American Population Growth in Over-the-Rhine[63]
Year Total Pop. Black Pop. Black %
1960[64] 30,000 2,720 9%
1970 16,363 6,783 42%
1980 12,355 7,869 63%
1990 9,572 6,835 71%
2000[65] 7,638 5,974 78%

Construction of the Mill Creek Expressway (I-75) wiped out portions of the historically black[66] West End neighborhood, displacing over 50,000 predominantly black and low-income residents.[67] Some of those filled vacancies among the poor and working-class Appalachians in Over-the-Rhine,[3] resulting in turf wars between blacks and young Appalachians that occurred so often police worried a race riot would erupt.[58][68]

Rioting by blacks in the late 1960s contributed to the 50% drop in Over-the-Rhine's population between 1960 and 1970. By the 1970s African-American influence in Over-the-Rhine was growing and the likelihood of an ethnic "Appalachian Over-the-Rhine" faded.[69] Appalachians and blacks both lobbied city hall for the future of Over-the-Rhine, but Appalachians lacked the long history of racial oppression in Cincinnati that the local African-Americans had.[70] Public programs would place control of Over-the-Rhine in the hands of its poor and increasingly black population.[71]

[edit] National register controversy

An abandoned and blighted building on Elm Street.

In the 1950s and 1960s the city government had put off the conversion of Over-the-Rhine into a "chic neighborhood" in favor of redevelopment projects in the central business district.[72] During this time many social service facilities were built in Over-the-Rhine to provide for the poor there. By the late 1970s the city was ready to use historic conservation as a way to revitalize the neighborhood and bring back more affluent residents.[73] However, this plan was met by stiff opposition from community organizers who saw it as a way to involuntarily uproot the poor and push them out of their homes and neighborhood.[73] They believed mixed-income neighborhoods would eventually displace the poor due to higher rents and would inflict "psychological, social, and economic stress and family strains."[74]

Historical preservationists saw rehabilitated old buildings and neighborhoods as a form of local patriotism and pride.[75] Over-the-Rhine had no shortage of historic buildings being the city's oldest neighborhood and—unlike the neighborhoods to the east, west, and south of downtown—it was untouched by interstate roadway construction. Preservationists saw Over-the-Rhine as an "irreplaceable architectural and historic resource" and wanted it added to the National Register of Historic Places to help protect it.[76] Preservationists argued it was a myth that displacement automatically followed National Register listing, that displacement was caused by disinvestment (not reinvestment), and that with a 24% vacancy rate in Over-the-Rhine there was room for middle and upper-income housing.[77] Additionally, they showed the National Register listing provided one of the few sources of funds for subsidizing low-income housing.[78] Furthermore, retaining Over-the-Rhine as a racial and low-income enclave violates federal law, and a city council resolution favored racial and class balance in all neighborhoods.[79]

Around the late 1970s Buddy Gray emerged as the leader for the rights of the poor. Gray operated the Drop Inn Center in Over-the-Rhine, which provided food, clothing, and shelter but not conventional treatment for homeless alcoholics.[80] He was known for an "in-your-face, shout-them-down style of confrontation,"[81] and described himself as "a hard-nosed radical, a street fighter for street people."[82] Gray believed that regardless of what the city government and preservationists said they ultimately wanted to run his homeless shelter out of Over-the-Rhine and turn it into an "artsy-craftsy" neighborhood.[82] His allies saw him as a "charitable humanitarian friend of the homeless,"[83] but his enemies saw "a poverty pimp"[84] who wanted to create a "super ghetto."[81] Gray was not against preservation when it benefited the poor, as he was known to protest demolitions, some with acts of civil disobedience.[85]

In 1980, at the public hearing for Over-the-Rhine's nomination into the National Register of Historic Places, Gray rallied some 250 protesters to the event where he blasted urban renewal as "negro removal."[76] There Gray and his allies were able to force a three year delay on the Register's decision.[79][86] In 1983 Gray used powerful political allies to lobby the National Register's board members, which resulted in Over-the-Rhine being rejected from the Register by a narrow 8 to 7 vote.[87] However, preservationists used a loophole to appeal the board's decision to the keeper of the National Register,[78] Carol Shull, who favored adding Over-the-Rhine to the Register.[86] Despite several last-minute derailment attempts by Gray, Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register in May of 1983.[88]

[edit] Low-income housing

Washington Park is near the Drop Inn Center, making it a favorite spot for the city's homeless.

Poverty, crime, and demolitions escalated in Over-the-Rhine while preservationists and Buddy Gray's "separatist" faction battled over historical designation status.[89] Gray, having lost the National Register battle, vowed to make the expansion of low-income housing in Over-the-Rhine his top priority.[90] In 1985 Gray pushed an "urban renewal plan"[91] through city council that he presented as "a compromise" that would allow some upper-income residents to settle in Over-the-Rhine. However, the plan made additional low-income housing such a high priority that it was not likely to yield much mixed-income residential or commercial development.[92]

The main critic of the plan was Jim Tarbell, an Over-the-Rhine resident and entrepreneur, who after 1983 would emerge as the leading opponent of Buddy Gray.[83] Tarbell, who was originally Gray's ally, had become disillusioned with Over-the-Rhine's poor. He divided the poor into two categories—those who cared and the "sloppy people" who "threw garbage out of windows, played loud music night and day, got drunk in the street, and let small children roam the streets unattended."[93] Tarbell wanted to help the poor who cared, but believed social activists like Gray were "naively sympathetic" to the "sloppy people."[93] Buddy Gray, on the other hand, assumed the poor had chosen a lifestyle of poverty, and for that reason should be separated from others who had not chosen a similar lifestyle.[94] Tarbell rejected Gray's view and argued that the 1985 plan denied the poor ready access to alternative lifestyles.[94]

By this time the idea of poverty as a problem in Over-the-Rhine was ironically no longer debated, and the corrosive effect on race-relations and morale of the mostly African-American poor was virtually ignored.[95] Jim Tarbell, however, had warned that Gray's plan guaranteed the persistence of Over-the-Rhine as "a predominantly black enclave of poverty and despair," but City Council ignored him because they believed Gray's assertion that the plan was a compromise.[96] By the end of the century, Over-the-Rhine had become one of the most economically distressed areas in the United States.[97] In 1990 the neighborhood had an extremely high poverty and unemployment rate, with the median household income of about $5,000 a year.[98] An estimated 84-percent of its residents were classified as low income, and over 95% of all housing units were rentals.[98]

No one seriously challenged Gray's plan until 1992 when Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) noted the 1985 plan did not yield balance in the composition of Over-the-Rhine's population, nor did it produce any significant commercial and industrial development in the area.[96][99] HOME argued Over-the-Rhine was on path to become a "permanent low income, one-race ghetto—a stagnant, decaying 'reservation' for the poor at the doorstep to downtown."[99] Furthermore, HOME strongly challenged Gray's assertion that the poor had all chosen their lifestyle, arguing that some wanted to move up the socioeconomic ladder.[63] In 1993 Over-the-Rhine's housing policy was changed after several small-business owners filed a lawsuit, calling the policy "racial and economic segregation."[100][101] The city settled out of court and agreed to set aside money for non-subsidized housing.[100]

[edit] Main Street and Digital Rhine

A bar and nightclub called "Neon's" opened on Main Street in 1984, and this served as the catalyst for the Main Street Entertainment District that "blossomed" in the 1990s.[102][103] Main Street's numerous clubs, restaurants, and bars attracted nearly a million visitors a year.[103] Annually, the street hosted Jammin' on Main, which featured nationally known bands. During a Seven Mary Three show in 1996 a rowdy crowd of mosh-pitters tore down a "flimsy" barrier in front of the stage.[104] Cincinnati police in riot gear stopped the show and "pepper-gassed anyone who seemed reluctant to leave."[104][105]

On November 15, 1996 a mentally-ill homeless man, whom Buddy Gray had helped, shot Gray to death in his office at the Drop Inn Center.[106] The man claimed Gray had been pumping poisonous gas into his apartment.[106] Rumors spread among Gray's supporters that he was assassinated,[107] but police were unable to find a connection between the shooter and a recent anti-Gray pamphlet and phone campaign.[108]

During the late 1990s Main Street became the center of Cincinnati's Dot-com boom, mostly due to its cheap rents and proximity to Main Street's non-tech businesses.[109] Nicknamed "Digital Rhine," the area had at least ten internet startups, and one startup sold to eBay in 1999 for $85 million.[109] Digital Rhine slowly disappeared after the Dot-com bubble burst in 2001.

[edit] 2001 race riots and aftermath

Main article: 2001 Cincinnati riots
Rioters set fire to a Findlay Market storefront.

The influx of wealthier residents onto "the city's most crime-ridden turf"[110] and growing drug activity[111] led to a dramatic increase in police presence.[112] Critics accused police of harassing the neighborhood's black youths, and being more concerned about the white club-hoppers and house-renovators than Over-the-Rhine's poor black residents.[112] Over-policing, a racial profiling lawsuit, and the killing of four black suspects since November of 2000 led to a high level of distrust between the black community and police.[113]

On April 7, 2001, at approximately 2 a.m. a white Cincinnati police officer was chasing a 19-year-old African-American on foot who was wanted on fourteen outstanding warrants, including running from police.[114][115] The suspect ran into an "extremely dark" breezeway to evade police and apparently reached down to pull up his pants.[115] The officer thought the man had reached for a weapon so he shot him in the chest, killing him, although no weapon was found.[115] This was the fifteenth time a black man had been killed by police in six years, although police argue in most of those cases officers were protecting themselves or others from attack.[116][117]

A few days later 200 angry African-Americans took over a meeting in City Hall and threatened to bar the doors.[118] For three hours they pummeled City Council with angry accusations, threats, claims of a police cover-up, and physically pushed and shoved a member of Council until they moved to the District 1 police station.[118][119] For an hour they threw stones and bottles at police in riot gear and smashed in the station's front door before police opened fire with bean bags, rubber bullets, and tear gas.[118][119]

Over the next three days crowds rampaged through Over-the-Rhine throwing bricks through car windows,[120][121] targeting and beating white motorists,[122][123][124][125][126][127] smashing windows and looting businesses,[121] setting fire to the newer stores at Findlay Market,[120][121] shooting at police,[128] and more. Of those who were arrested for rioting, 70% were not residents of Over-the-Rhine, and 86% were African-American males.[129] The total cost of damage to the city was at least $13.7 million.[130]

The riots effectively killed the Over-the-Rhine renaissance of the late 1990s, setting the neighborhood back a decade.[131] After the riots police began an unofficial "work slowdown" where they made fewer arrests and some began looking for jobs in the suburbs.[132][133] Crime increased[133] and within months of the unrest nearly 20% of Section 8 voucher holders left Over-the-Rhine.[134] Businesses moved to other neighborhoods because customers were too frightened to drive to Over-the-Rhine,[131] and Main Street lost much of its nightlife to places like Newport, Northside, and Hyde Park.[135][136]

[edit] Gateway Quarter and today

After the riots "a huge number of people" left Over-the-Rhine, leaving 500 of the neighborhood's 1,200 buildings vacant and property values extremely low.[131] Cincinnati's corporate and philanthropic elite began buying and rehabbing entire blocks at a time, with the largest player being Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC).[131] Many buildings have sat vacant for so long that they are on the verge of collapse, and the developers feel they have to renovate quickly or they will lose the buildings forever.[131]

Re-developed buildings in the Gateway Quarter at 12th and Vine Streets.

Since 2006, about $93 million has been invested in the development and creation of the Gateway Quarter, starting with 12th and Vine Streets immediately outside of downtown. The redevelopment project has been largely successful in its attempts to attract empty-nesters and young professionals into the neighborhood.[137]

Today Over-the-Rhine has a vibrant community, despite lingering problems with crime and poverty. The open air drug trade that has plagued the neighborhood for many years has been reduced, due in part to the controversial "vortex unit" of the Cincinnati Police force. Gentrification and adaptive reuse have brought new faces to Over-the-Rhine in recent years. Attracted by its large collection of Italianate, Muted Greek Revival, and Queen Anne architecture, and the sense of community that comes with "stoop sitting" culture, artists and others weary of traditional neighborhoods began a transformation in sections of the neighborhood that today makes Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati's most creative, culturally and economically diverse neighborhood.

A new building is under construction for the School for Creative and Performing Arts and plans to open by 2010. Upon its completion, the $80 million facility will be the only K-12 arts school in the United States.[138] The Emery Theatre, which hosted many of the greatest performing artists of the early twentieth century, is undergoing a $3 million renovation and is expected to reopen in 2011.[139]

A streetcar line is planned to run through the downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Based on the Portland, Oregon model, it is anticipated that this streetcar line could generate billions of dollars in new development in the neighborhood despite serving a limited geographic area.[140]

In 2009 a crime series, called "Over the Rhine: The Series," was independently filmed by local Cincinnatians in Over-the-Rhine.[141] The series is being shopped around to television networks with plans to independently release it on DVD.[141]

[edit] Crime

Serious crimes decreased between 2005 and 2007.

After the 2001 riots violent crime increased, largely due to feuding gangs.[142] The number of serious crimes plateaued from 2002 to 2005, after which crime began decreasing at a rapid pace. The decrease has been credited to the redevelopment of the area, the increase in population, and the intense presence of the police and sheriff's deputies.[143]

Crime, while down, has not been eliminated. Some residents were concerned when the controversial sheriff's deputies were pulled from the neighborhood in December of 2007.[144] Since then, the number of crimes committed in the first six months of 2008 and 2007 have been similar.[144] In other words, crime has not decreased but it has not increased either.[144] One recent analysis ranked portions of Over-The-Rhine as the most dangerous in the nation.[145]

[edit] Landmarks

[edit] Demographics

Map of Over-the-Rhine

In 2001 there were an estimated 500 vacant buildings in Over-the-Rhine with 2,500 residential units.[134] Of those residential units 278 were condemned as uninhabitable.[134] Also in 2001 the owner-occupancy rate was between 3 and 4 percent compared to the city-wide rate of 39 percent.[134] According to the "Drilldown", a comprehensive analysis of the city's actual population and demographics conducted in 2007, OTR's current population is just 4,900 people in an area of 0.64 square miles.[citation needed]

As of the census[147] of 2000, the racial makeup of Over-the-Rhine was 19.4% Caucasian, 76.9% African American, and less than 4% of other races. 0.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The neighborhood's residents compose roughly 1.2% of the population of the City of Cincinnati, but bear the costs and social burdens of housing a clear majority of Hamilton County's homeless population.

[edit] Community organizations

[edit] Historic churches

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-06-30. http://www.nr.nps.gov/. 
  2. ^ National Trust for Historic Preservation, 11 Most Endangered: Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood. Accessed on June 13, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c Over-the-Rhine Foundation. OTR History. Accessed on June 13, 2009.
  4. ^ Donkin, Mike (April 20, 2001). "Cincinnati: A divided city". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/1287133.stm. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. 
  5. ^ "Cincinnati's Vine Street Experiencing Rebirth" (video). YouTube. March 4, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EguyZfRDMIg. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  6. ^ Walletpop, Most Dangerous Neighborhoods, Accessed on 2009-06-22.
  7. ^ "Report: OTR Nation's Most Dangerous Neighborhood". WLWT. June 22, 2009. http://www.wlwt.com/news/19826766/detail.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-22. 
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[edit] References

[edit] External links


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