A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

The land on which the house at 5835 Glenview Avenue stands was originally part of the 5831Glenview Avenue property. The house was built in 1921.Richard Henshaw, brother to Edward Henshaw who married Ellen Johnson, designed for them theirhouse on Belmont Avenue.Dorothy Henshaw gave an oral interview in 1992 to this Society. She related that during theDepression, the Mitchell Furniture Company proposed a Mitchell-Henshaw merger as both companieswere having problems with their sale volumes. The Henshaws declined because the Mitchell companywas deeply in debt and the Henshaws believed in carrying no debt load.The G. Henshaw & Sons Furniture Company stayed in business until the 1940’s. Edward Henshaw,George’s nephew, was Mayor of College Hill. Edward married Ellen Johnson whose sister, Mary, marriedRev. John Stanton Ely and her other sister, Lucy, married Lewis Crosley. Edward married Mary Knight,who came from England with her family on the sailing ship, American Eagle. Mary’s sister, Elizabeth,married Robert E. LeBlond, who was a printer. LeBlond began to manufacture tools and in 1890 began toproduce drill presses and later, lathes. This was the beginning of LeBlond Tools, known throughout theworld for the quality of its tools and machinery. The Knights first lived on Elm St. near the Hollenshades.Another Knight daughter, Carrie, married William Dunbar. Their only child, William, married GeorgiaBowman. Mary Knight’s brother, William, married Agnes MacLean. Their son, Richard, married AnnAiken.Edward and Mary Knight Henshaw were the parents of Edward Henshaw who married EllenJohnson. They had one child, Lewis Henshaw, who married Dorothy Cummings. The Henshaw familyhad a tradition of naming the first son Edward and the second son George. Edward established and wasthe early president of the College Hill Building Association which first met in Flamm’s grocery. AfterTown Hall was built, the Association moved there. Edgar Cummings, Dorothy’s father, served aspresident also. Edward, Edgar and a few other College Hill residents also founded the ClovernookCountry Club.Dorothy Cummings Henshaw had a remarkable memory. The Cummings family attended CollegeHill Presbyterian Church along with Thomson, Pounsford, McCrea, Myers, Aiken, Greeno, Bagley, Wild,Cary and Wilder families. William Altamer was not only the principle of the College Hill school but alsothe head of the Sunday School. Rev. Charles Austen and Rev. Dale LeCount were ministers there.When Dorothy married, she started attending her husband’s church, Grace Episcopal. Rev. Clicknerwas minister then, followed by Rev. Arthur Lichenberger, Rev. Brent Woodruff, Rev. David Thornberryand Rev. LeRoy Hall, from New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Other families attending Grace Church werethe Bowman, Simpson, LaBoiteaux, Dunbar, Shoenwald, Chace and Emerson.Dorothy will always be remembered for her graciousness and knowledge of antiques. Her parentswere Edgar Cummings and Florence Phares. Florence’s father, John, lived in Finneytown and was a closefriend of Henry Bowman. The land at the corner of North Bend and Winton Road has been in theCummings family since 1820. That corner had a high hill that was leveled when the gas station was built.Edgar Cummings was the president of the Northside Bank, and owned Pierson’s Lumber Company for atime.Dorothy was born on North Bend Road in a house her father built and is no longer standing. She wasdelivered by the homeopathic physician, Dr. Kilgore, who delivered most of the babies born on the Hill.About 1908 her father built a house at the corner of Larch and Davey Avenues. The Bauhmann’s livednext door on the Larch side of the corner and Newbold Pierson built a house next to them on the DaveyAvenue side. The Bauhmann house had a large lot extending from Larch Street over to Llanfair. TheBauhmann’s had a family of five children, plenty to keep Dorothy in playmates. They were Richard,Ethel, Marguerite, and the twins Laura Belle and Emma Lea. West of the Bauhmann’s was the Burns-Ormsby property and next to them, the Simpsons. Paul Briol, his wife and daughter, lived at first in theSimpson house. This block was purchased by the Presbyterian Church and torn down in 1962 for theLlanfair Retirement complex.Dorothy and Lewis’s first house was on Belmont Avenue but they returned to the Larch Street home172