Historic Mount Adamsby Marian Knight

Legend has it that the picturesque hillside community of Mount Adams wasi 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 thehill 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—MountIda was little more than a forested hill with footpaths of mud and rock. TheReverend James Kemper, Cincinnati's first minister, is credited with buildingthe first roadway in 1793. Over it he transported his family and householdgoods up the side of Mount Ida and through the forests of what is now EdenPark to an outlying district called Walnut Hills. Part of this original corduroyroad, Observatory Road, became Monastery Street; the other two access routesto the hill were East Court Street, now Wareham Drive, and the Road to theHill, now Hill Street.

In 1830 Mount Ida was acquired by that fantastically successful real estateentrepreneur and patron of the arts, Nicholas Longworth. Longworth turnedhis newest piece of property into a terraced vineyard where, after long experi-mentation with various grape cuttings, he produced the sparkling Catawbawine that became celebrated around the world as Golden Wedding Champagne.As generous as he was ambitious, Longworth shortly thereafter gave four acresof his hilltop to Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, another ambitious Cincinnatian,who built the nation's first professionally-equipped astronomical observatoryon this site. Former President John Quincy Adams made the arduous journeyfrom Massachusetts to Cincinnati to deliver the address when the observatorywas dedicated on November 9, 1843. In his honor, the name of the suburbwas changed from Mount Ida to Mount Adams.

With the observatory, Mount Adams began to develop intellectually andeconomically as well as agriculturally. A limestone quarry, a wooden shoefactory, and a fireworks factory were among the diverse trades pursued atopMount 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 unplannedexplosions and fires—provided spectacular entertainment for strollers andpicnickers.

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 observatoryabandoned its site in 1872, moving to Mount Lookout to escape industrialsmoke and dirt (yes, they had air pollution in those days too), the land wasacquired by the Order of Passionist Fathers for the Holy Cross Church andMonastery. The monastery, housed in the crumbling observatory building, wasadjacent to the original frame church, erected in 1873 as a parish church forthe English-speaking (predominantly Irish) Catholics of the hill. The presentItalian Renaissance-style church was dedicated in 1895, to be followed fiveyears later by the construction of a larger and more substantial monastery.Today, towering some four hundred feet above the Ohio River, the Holy CrossMonastery 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-renownedfirm known as Rookwood Pottery, founded by Mrs. Maria Longworth NicholsStorer in 1880. The pottery had moved to the hill from its original EasternAvenue site in 1892. Within its picturesque English Tudor buildings a varietyof art pottery was designed by many distinguished artists. After a long butuneven 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 itsown with the installation of the Mount Adams Incline in 1876. The fourth ofthe city's five inclined planes, this was the most successful and enjoyed thelongest tenure, continuing operation until 1948. At the top of the incline wasthe famous Highland House, by all odds the most popular of the four hilltophouses. Lavish food and drink, orchestral and operatic music, conventions andsocial gatherings, an outdoor beer garden, dancing and theater, all were partof the glamorous heyday of the Highland House in the 1880's. After a periodof rather ungraceful decline, it closed its doors in 1895. On the site today standsa modern high-rise apartment, appropriately named Highland Towers.

One other landmark that cannot be omitted from even a brief listing is theImmaculata: the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Crowning the peakof Mount Adams and commanding a sweeping view of the Ohio River, theKentucky hills, and Cincinnati's downtown basin, this venerable Roman Cath-olic structure was dedicated in December i860 and later served as the parishfor the hill's German-speaking natives. From the beginning it established acustom unique in Cincinnati and rare throughout the world—"Praying theSteps." 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 customsand has added some interesting new ones. Today, such cultural influences asthe 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 EdenPark share attention with modest art galleries, arty gift and antique shops,boutiques, and entertainment spots. Many fashionable townhouses now dotthe hill, rubbing elbows with brightly redecorated houses and untouched olddwellings. Taken all in all, Mount Adams' rich history, colorful traditions, andlively 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 thevineyards of Nicholas Longworth, the only visible landmarks were theAstronomical Observatory and the spectator tower of the PyrotechnicGarden.

The Mount Adams Incline, in oper-ation from 1876 to 1948, enjoyedthe longest tenure of the city's fiveinclined planes. It started at LockStreet and bridged Kilgour, Baum,and Oregon Streets before reachingCelestial Street at the top.

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Adjacent to the incline's powerhouse wasthe bustling Highland House, a year-round resort with entertainment and rec-reation to suit every taste. Frank Harff,owner and •promoter, advertised that "theviews from all parts of the house andgrounds, and especially from the espla-nade, belvedere and balconies, areunequaled on this Continent."

Mount Adams' Catholic traditionswere as sturdy as its principalsettlers, 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 thechurch home of the Irish.

The inaccessibility of the hill allowed itto become somewhat of a recluse amongsuburbs. One circuitous route was EastFifth Street, opposite, to East CourtStreet, above, which passed through theshadow of a shaky wooden trestle from1882 until 1931 when the concrete IdaStreet bridge was constructed.

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