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

I used to love the old houses along Groesbeck Road and be curious about them. At the HamiltonAvenue end of the street was the Presbyterian Church-very different from its present day appearance.Behind it was the old manse, a frame house long since gone. Next was the Chatfield house owned by thechurch (1528 Groesbeck Rd, demolished in the 1980’s). Beyond where the Hillrise now stands was thelarge frame house owned by Mayor Bruce, the last mayor of College Hill as a village. I remember that ithad a large porte-cochere for carriages to pull under on the east side-I think the house was painted yellow.It was next to the traction track and the bridge over the tracks on Groesbeck Road.On the south side beginning at Hamilton were several little frame cottages standing close to thestreet. Then came several larger houses, one of which was owned by Mr. Altamer. Those houses are stillthere, including the last one sitting up on a hill just before you came to the traction line (1421 GroesbeckRd. built by Jacob Tuckerman).Beyond the tracks were some large frame houses, now gone. The one opposite St. Elmo wasoccupied by the Jones family, daughter Helen whom I knew. On the north side of that block were severalvery old brick houses and one frame, still there, at the corner of Kenneth. Across Kenneth, 22 very close toKenneth but facing Groesbeck, was the large brick where our classmate, Johnny Massman, lived with hisaunt and uncle. On the south side was the large Howard estate, the old house now surrounded byapartments. There was a large tennis court in the front and west of the house. I don’t remember just howmany other houses were down there until you got to the one sitting way back on the south side of the roadeast of Argus. The Shepherd’s, who had a pear orchard, lived there in what I learned later was another ofthe Howard homes. There were no sidewalks on the east end of Groesbeck so I didn’t walk there toooften.I can still remember the old Larmon Mansion, where Larmon Court is today, which had been builtby Freeman Grant Cary. It stood well back from the street with beautiful sloping lawns and flowergardens. Across from it was the Cincinnati Sanitarium. It, too, stood way back from the road, with a longdriveway going downhill past the lake in the low area. The kids used to go there to skate and sled ride too,stood way back from the road, with a long driveway going downhill past the lake in the low area. Thekids used to go there to skate and sled ride on the hill leading down to the lake. Next to the drive atHamilton Avenue was the brick residence of the superintendent. His daughter, Mary Collins, was in ourclass at school.Next came Aster Place leading off to the west-at the north corner was Mr. Aiken’s home-he was thesupervisor of the Music Department in the Cincinnati Schools. On the south corner was a lovely whiteframe house, now replaced by apartments.West from Hamilton ending at Belmont is Pasadena-very few houses on it, one on the north sidebeing the old post office, The south corner was a vacant lot, then one or two houses in one of which livedElizabeth Kelly, whose mother was a nurse. Then came the Grace Episcopal Church. On the north side,just before Hillcrest were several brick houses. South of Hillcrest on the corner property was the Eisenmansion. Then came the Zebulon Strong house and sitting below the street level a lovely brick, both arestill there. On the opposite side was the beautiful Glenwood Apartments, recently torn down. It wasconsidered the elite place to live in College Hill. Next to it up on the hill with a stone wall in front was avery old frame (Obed J. Wilson house) now gone. Then came Windermere Way and the Methodist Home.Back on Windermere was the superintendent’s house, Dr. Ross, whose daughter, Peggy, was in my class.We had mutual interests in the history of College Hill and she told me many things about it as we rode thestreet car to Hughes High School.At the end of Windermere Way was a house hidden way back in the woods, which I never saw, butPeggy told me about (Caldwell house). Across Hamilton Avenue from Windermere Way was the redbrick pumping station. As you started down the hill from it were some three or four houses, some still arethere today. One was the home of Louis Aiken, our music teacher at Hughes High School. Where22 Across from Kenneth on Cedar Avenue was an ice house. On Cedar, two houses from Leffingwell, Joseph Fink had a dairy. His daughters were Beatrice and Lorraine, per Irma (Zimmer)Waechter.230