East of Downtown, Alton

Heading east on Fifth Street from Easton Street (named after Rufus Easton, the founder of Alton), we see some very early housing. We then angle onto the diagonal Court Street, which mysteriously exists for only about three blocks. We then hop onto Fourth Street as we head out of town. I really like this two-car…

Alby Street, Alton

I made it back out by the Henry Watson House, this time with the sun out, but now with a pesky overhead wire in the way! I had photographed it way back in January of 2009 on a cloudy day. Apparently the house was damaged by fire. Watson owned two quarries; I wonder if one…

It’s a Good Thing Bad Taste Isn’t a Crime

I’ll fully concede that this four-family had already been screwed up for years before the current rehabber bought it, but that does not excuse what’s happened to this long-suffering property in the last six months. Cheap crap that will fail when the next unsuspecting owner years from now owns it makes my blood boil. The…

Down By The River and the South Side, Peoria, August 2023

The public housing down by the river, which I first spotted way back in December of 2008, are finally being demolished. I had discovered they were built when Peoria demolished the red light district where Richard Pryor had grown up. The new buildings going up are nice, and they even feature the latest navy blue…

Vine Street Over to Race Street, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati

“Lord, on this day of thanksgiving, we thank you for our loved ones, family and friends. We also thank you, oh Lord, that Chris has almost run out of photos from his trip back in August.” Heading down the hill from Clifton, passing through some other neighborhoods, I reached what I call “upper” Vine Street…

Glenway Avenue, East Price Hill, Cincinnati

Wow, East Price Hill is up a really steep hill! And again, just like over at Mount Auburn, a funicular railroad gave residents the ability to settle this neighborhood in the Nineteenth Century. I started at the intersection of Warsaw, Glenway and Seton avenues where they merge with Quebec Road. East Price Hill has been…

Maplewood Avenue, Mount Auburn, Cincinnati

Somehow accidentally wandering down the hill from the summit of Mount Auburn, I stumbled upon Maplewood Avenue, which contains one of the most amazing collections of Queen Anne Style I’ve ever seen. I would like to know the story behind the Swiss chalet, but after that begin the Queen Anne, some with a simple palette,…

Auburn Avenue, Mount Auburn, Cincinnati

Mount Auburn? That sounds interesting, I thought to myself, and then discovered that there was a historic site related to future president William Howard Taft. After taking a terrible photo of his boyhood home, I photographed many of the houses along Auburn Avenue, which follows the crest of the hill. The siting of Mount Auburn…

Reading Road, Avondale and the Riots, Cincinnati

I’ve looked at Fourteenth Street NW before in Washington, DC, and probably elsewhere, so I was interested in what had become of Reading Road in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati. High up in the hills, there were two riots, one in 1967 and then less than a year later in 1968. The first one revolved…

Wick Park, Youngstown

My first stop off the interstate in Youngstown was Wick Park, which is a historic district up on a plateau of sorts just north of the downtown area. The outstanding focal point of the neighborhood and sitting at the end of Park Avenue where it t-bones with 5th Avenue is the Stambaugh Auditorium. I think…