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

which the priest, Father Diehner, lived. The Eicher house became the dwelling for the nuns who taught atthe St. Clare School. Miss Rose was the priest’s housekeeper. She was always good to me and when I wasill would send over special dishes to tempt my appetite.On the south side of Cedar between Salvia 21 and Hamilton was only the fire house on the corner,then the two old frame houses, still there. The first was owned by Miss Miles, who had the dry goodsstore and next was Lou Eiler, who worked for Mr. Vail, who operated the feed store at the corner. On thenorth side of the block were two-story frames, the first the residence of a contractor, the second owned byMrs. Vat. I don’t remember Mr. Vitt-he died and Mrs. Vitt had a hard life, working as a cleaning womanfor people in the neighborhood.There were empty lots until you got near the corner, where there was a small one-story shop andresidence-a glass shop operated, I think, by a Mr. Griffith. The Griffiths lived in back of the shop. At thecorner was the brick store facing Hamilton, which was McNutt’s Hardware store. A building was builtlater on next to the hardware store which was the Kroger grocery. Then came the RuthEllen building withtwo stores and entrance to the flats above. Next was the two-story frame Huschle building, where heoperated a barber shop in the first store and Miss Miles had her dry goods store in the second one.There was nothing more until the corner, where soon after William ‘Doc’ Schneider built the littlebrick building and had his drug store there. Earlier he had his shop in the Deininger Building next to theirblacksmith shop.On the west side of Hamilton at the corner of Cedar was the Diehn’s Candy store. The next buildingwas Doll’s Bakery and at the corner of Marlowe was Dr. Van Pelt’s home. On the northwest corner ofHamilton and Marlowe was a big brick house with a stone wall along the front, which later became TwinLanterns. Next was the lovely little cottage, later moved back to Budmar. Then came Mr. Hoffman’shouse and photo studio. Where Hodapp’s Funeral Home is today stood the old William Cary mansion.On the east side between Marlowe and Ambrose were the frame buildings there today-the one nextto the corner of Ambrose was Dr. Howard’s residence and office. The brick building at the corner was ourpost office for a time. Neither Ambrose nor Elkton were built through to Lantana. We used to go throughthe path to go sled riding on the hill on Elkton in the winter time. Coming back to Cedar, at the northeastcorner of Salvia lived the Werts family, with a son named Byron. Mr. Wert was an insurance man anddrove around in a horse and buggy, the building now used as a three car garage was the stable. Next wasthe house owned by Mr. Biddle, then our home. The house east of us was being built at the same time asours. Mrs. Burke bought it before it was finished and had dormers added on the second floor, so she couldtake in boarders. I remember mother saying that they would all come running out to go to the street car ofa morning and would cut down the bank by our driveway, so she planted a type of grass bush todiscourage it.Just east of Mrs. Burke was another two-story frame where the Kinbers lived. Their only child, Carl,was my only playmate in the early years. Later on this was owned by the Huschle family, with twodaughters, Ruth and Lucille. Mr. Huschle was the son of Mr. William Huschle, the barber.Continuing on down on the north side of Cedar was an empty lot on the corner, then the log cabinland office, moved there from Hamilton Avenue. A friend of ours, the Ambroses, moved into it. Theywere a couple well along in years-I was about eight years old when Mrs. Ambrose, of whom I was veryfond, died from pneumonia. The nurse took me in to see her on the day she died and I will never forgetthe awful sight of her struggle to breathe.I think most of the houses on that side of the street were there at that time. All of the houses on thesouth side of that block were there as they are today. The building at the corner of Lantana was theSimon’s grocery-I think they lived upstairs. I believe the Keller family, with a daughter Charlotte, livedjust west of the grocery.In 1918 I had the flu and was sick for several months-in consequence I had to repeat the fifth grade. Ihad Miss Strasser both years. Her home was a very old frame just south of the Deininger building,. The21 Hoffman the photographer began in a frame house at 5912 Salvia Avenue, near Cedar. He moved later to a new residence/shop on Hamilton Avenue.227