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Over-the-Rhine Historic District
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From upper left: Italianate architecture, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the OTR Gateway Quarter, Music Hall, Findlay Market, and the School for Creative and Performing Arts
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| Location: | Roughly bounded by Dorsey, Sycamore, Eleanor, Reading, Central Pkwy, McMicken Ave., and Vine streets, Cincinnati, Ohio |
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| Area: | 3,625 acres (14.67 km2) |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival and Late Victorian[1] |
| Governing body: | Local, Private and State[1] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 83001985[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | May 17, 1983[1] |
Over-the-Rhine, sometimes shortened to OTR, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States.[2] Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 with 943 contributing buildings.[3] It contains the largest collection of Italianate architecture in the United States,[2][4] and is an example of an intact 19th-century urban neighborhood.[5] Its architectural significance has been compared to the French Quarter in New Orleans, the historic districts of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, and Greenwich Village in New York City.[6][7] Besides being a historic district, the neighborhood has an arts community that is unparalleled within Cincinnati.[8] Over-the-Rhine is bordered by the neighborhoods of Downtown, CUF, Mount Auburn, Pendleton, and the West End. Over-the-Rhine was voted best Cincinnati neighborhood in CityBeat's Best of Cincinnati 2011.[9]
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The neighborhood's distinctive name comes from its builders and early residents, German immigrants of the mid-19th century. Many walked to work across bridges over the Miami and Erie Canal, which separated the area from downtown Cincinnati. The canal was nicknamed "the Rhine" in reference to the Rhine River in Germany, and the newly settled area north of the canal as "Over the Rhine."[10][11] In German, the district was called "über'm Rhein."
An early reference to the canal as "the Rhine" appears in the 1853 book White, Red, Black, in which traveler Ferenc Pulszky wrote, "The Germans live all together across the Miami Canal, which is, therefore, here jocosely called the 'Rhine.' "[12] In 1875 writer Daniel J. Kenny referred to the area exclusively as "Over the Rhine." He noted, "Germans and Americans alike love to call the district 'Over the Rhine.' "[13] The canal no longer exists, but was located at what is now Central Parkway.
Over-the-Rhine is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States.[14] Because of its size, Over-the-Rhine is home to several distinct districts. OTR is bisected by Liberty Street. The Northern Liberties[15] and Over-the-Rhine Brewery District[16] are north of Liberty Street. South of Liberty is the Gateway Quarter and Pendleton, Cincinnati.
The Gateway Quarter is a subdistrict of Over-the-Rhine. It is located in the south central area of Over-the-Rhine, bordered by Central Parkway to the south and west, Main Street to the east, and Liberty Street to the north. It is also known as "The Q", "The Quarter", and "The Gateway". In 2003, the City of Cincinnati and the City's corporate leaders made a joint commitment to jumpstart economic development in Cincinnati's urban core.[17] Together they created the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC).[18][19] 3CDC is a major holder and developer in the Gateway Quarter and neighboring Washington Park on the west side of the Gateway Quarter which is also undergoing an expansion and renovation that is expected to be completed in 2011.[20]
Pendleton is considered a neighborhood in the Over-the-Rhine Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places and City of Cincinnati[21] and the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce.[22] Pendleton is south of Liberty Street, north of Reading Road and east of Sycamore Street.[23]
Until 1849, today's Liberty Street, then called Northern Row, was the corporation line forming Cincinnati's northern boundary. The area north of Northern Row was not subject to municipal law and was, appropriately, called The Northern Liberties.[15]
The Area was the heart of Cincinnati's beer brewing industry.[24] Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. began brewing beer in the Brewery District in December, 2010.[25]
Christian Moerlein established his first brewing company in Over-the-Rhine in 1853. Eventually the Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. became the city’s largest brewery and expanded into the national market. At its height the brewery occupied three entire city blocks. Prohibition brought an end to the company in the 1920s.[26]
Bockfest is held annually in OTR. The Bockfest Hall was located in the Brewery District in 2010 and 2011.
Findlay Market is the oldest continuously operating farmers' market in Ohio.[27] Findlay Market was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[28] The structure was among the first markets in the United States to use iron frame construction technology and is one of very few that have survived.[15]
Findlay Market is a center of economic activity in Over-the-Rhine. Cincinnati City Council named The Corporation for Findlay Market its Preferred Developer for 39 city-owned properties near the market in June 2006.[29]
In 2004, the City of Cincinnati completed a $16 million renovation of the market and it was 47% occupied. In 2010, the market became 100% occupied and continues to grow.[30]
Over-the-Rhine is home to several distinctive annual events. A few of them are:
Built in the nineteenth century during a period of extensive German immigration, Over-the-Rhine became notorious for its poverty by the end of the twentieth century.[10] In 2001 Reason Magazine dubbed it "ground zero in inner-city decline."[31] Since the late 1970s, advocates for historic preservation and low-income housing have struggled over how to preserve the neighborhood without causing mass displacement of the poor. The 2001 Cincinnati riots brought international attention to Over-the-Rhine, and accelerated a century-long trend of population decline. Low property value allowed developers to buy and renovate a large number of historic buildings.[7] Since 2004 hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in revitalization projects,[19] and since 2006 the crime rate has decreased each year.
Over-the-Rhine has been praised for its collection of historic architecture. The New York Times described the neighborhood as having "a scale and grace reminiscent of Greenwich Village in New York."[7] When Arthur Frommer, founder of the Frommer's travel guides, visited Over-the-Rhine he described it as the most promising urban area for revitalization in the United States, and claimed that its potential for tourism "literally could rival similar prosperous and heavily visited areas."[32][33]
Most of Over-the-Rhine's ornate brick buildings were built by German immigrants from 1865 to the 1880s.[7] The architecture of Over-the-Rhine reflects the diverse styles of the late nineteenth century—simple vernacular, muted Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne.[34] Most of the buildings in Over-the-Rhine are one of these styles, but there are other odd balls as well. Art Deco is represented by the American Building on Central Parkway, the Germania Building at Twelfth and Walnut streets is ironically one of the few examples of German ornamentation in the neighborhood, Music Hall's mixture of styles is best described as Venetian Gothic, there are a handful of buildings with Gothic architecture, and the new SCPA on Central Parkway is the most notable example of Modern architecture in the neighborhood.[2]
In 2011, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, which works to prevent historic building loss in OTR, won 3rd place in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's nationwide This Place Matters community challenge.[35] In 2006, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the status of Over-the-Rhine as "Endangered."[34] Since 1930, approximately half of Over-the-Rhine's historic buildings have been destroyed.[32] More will follow unless currently deteriorating buildings are repaired.[34] Between 2001 and 2006, the city approved more than 50 "emergency demolitions," which were caused by absentee landlords' allowing their buildings to become so critically dilapidated that the city declared them a danger to the public. Reinvestment could have saved them.[32][36] Due to the situation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared Over-the-Rhine one of Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006.[34] Over-the-Rhine was included in the 2008 book, Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear, which noted the district's "shocking state of neglect".[37]
According to research conducted by WCPO in 2001, some of the worst-kept properties are owned by Over-the-Rhine's non-profits,[38] which let the buildings sit vacant and deteriorating because of lack of funds [39] or volunteers.[40] As of 2009, approximately 66% of the buildings in Over-the-Rhine are vacant.[41] Squatters, such as vagrants, prostitutes, drug addicts and dealers sometimes occupy them illegally.[32] With some buildings on the verge of collapse, investors and real-estate developers are trying to restore them before deterioration to the point of requiring demolition.[7] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, part of Over-the-Rhine has one of the highest rates of abandoned and vacant homes in the country. They classify it as the sixth hardest area in the nation to get an accurate population count.[42]
Most of Over-the-Rhine's landmarks are related to the arts and are clustered in one area near Downtown.
In February 2006 the city reported that Over-the-Rhine had the highest crime rate of the city's neighborhoods.[49] Between 2001 and 2006 Over-the-Rhine had the highest number of calls for police service—more than twice the next highest neighborhood.[50] It experienced 606 violent crimes in 2005; no other Cincinnati neighborhood exceeded 243—the average for all other neighborhoods was 65 violent crimes.[50] In 2005 Over-the-Rhine experienced 350 robberies; the average for all other neighborhoods was 38.[50] According to Cincinnati Police, 80% of the suspects arrested in Over-the-Rhine do not live in the community,[49] and the majority of violent crimes in Over-the-Rhine are drug-related.[51]
The number of serious crimes plateaued from 2002 to 2005, after which crime began decreasing at a rapid pace. In 2006 sheriff's deputies were brought in to help patrol the neighborhood.[52] The decrease has been credited to the redevelopment of the area, the increase in population, and the increased presence of the police and sheriff's deputies.[53] Operation Vortex and Ceasefire, a program that reaches out to gang members, were also credited with helping decrease crime.[54] In the summer of 2006 police assembled an élite sixty-man crimefighting squad code-named Vortex.[54] The Vortex unit made "zero tolerance" sweeps of high-crime areas, where they arrested people for misdemeanors, such as jaywalking and loitering, as well as for serious crimes.[54] In its first 25 days the unit made 1,000 arrests.[55] In the first six months of 2009, no calls for emergency help were made.[56] A business owner reported that pan handling and shoplifting in his store dropped 90 percent after he moved from the Central Business District to Over-the-Rhine.[56] Through July 29 of 2009 crime in Over-the-Rhine was down 22% when compared to the same period in 2008.[57]
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."[56][58][59] Critics, however, argue that the statistic is "intellectually dishonest"[60] because the data selected to represent Over-the-Rhine focused on a "mostly vacant industrialized strip,"[61] and the data used by the website was "old."[56][60] In July 2009 a rise in prostitution was reported along McMicken Avenue; police said that new development is pushing the women out of other parts of Over-the-Rhine into a smaller area.[62]
| 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% |
In 2001 there were an estimated 500 vacant buildings in Over-the-Rhine with 2,500 residential units.[63] Of those residential units 278 were condemned as uninhabitable.[63] Also in 2001 the owner-occupancy rate was between 3 and 4 percent compared to the city-wide rate of 39 percent.[63] According to the "Drilldown", a comprehensive analysis of the city's actual population and demographics conducted in 2007, OTR's current population is just 4,970 people. [64] As of the census[65] 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 comprise roughly 1.2% of the population of the City of Cincinnati.
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