Historic Mount Adams - Cincinnati History Library and Archives

Historic Mount Adams
by Marian Knight
L
egend has it that the picturesque hillside community of Mount Adams was
i 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, Cincinnati'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 experimentation 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 Pyrotechnic 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
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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 Ohio River, the Holy Cross
Monastery and the Holy Cross Church with its distinctive 130-foot-high campanile 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 Rookwood ceramics in Cincinnati ended in i960. The buildings have been attractively 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 Immaculate Conception. Crowning the peak
of Mount Adams and commanding a sweeping view of the Ohio River, the
Kentucky hills, and Cincinnati's downtown basin, this venerable Roman Catholic 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 continuing 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
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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.
..»?•••"•••-
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 operation 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 yearround resort with entertainment and recreation 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 esplanade, 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 residents 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)