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

Chapter 44 Businesses Then and NowProminent for decades on the Avenue was Allgeier’s Catering and Hall. Started in 1927 by LouisAllgeier as Allgeier’s Grocery Store, it occupied the first floor of the Junior Order United AmericanMechanic’s building, a fraternal organization that supported an orphan’s home at Lexington, N. C. and anational patriotic legislative program. Located at 6110 Hamilton Avenue, the building was constructed byWillis Forbes. Louis’s son, Norman and his wife Mary Jo were a popular business duo, known for theirtasty catering and the hall that was rented by many weddings and celebrations in College Hill. Mary Jopassed away in 1992. She was the local force behind the reforestation program which has lined miles ofCollege Hill streets with blooming trees.Angert’s Appliances-The Angert family has a long history in Cincinnati. Bill Angert, Jr.’s and EdCreighton’s great-grandfather, George Angert served in the Civil War as a drummer boy, that is afteradding a few years to his age. Later George founded the Eureka Brass Works on Spring Grove Avenue.They made brass valves for radiators, fire hose nozzles, and valves for many purposes. Even today, weuse something that George Angert invented-the automatic shut off nozzle at gas pumps. In the early1940’s the business was sold to the Ohio Pattern Works and he retired but was offered a position withLunkenheimer Valves that he accepted. George lived on Larry and towards the end of his life becameblind from long term exposure to the fumes of molten brass.His son Ed, father of Carolyn and William (Bill, Sr.), worked for the Ohio Pattern Works during thestart of WW II. After the war, he worked for Phillips Oil in Fairfield but it was difficult to get gasolineand car tires for the long commute, so George funded Ed to start an appliance business.Great grandson, Ed Creighton remembers Ed Angert telling him of how Lindbergh flew into thecornfields that later would become Teakwood and Wionna Ct. in his ‘Sprit of St. Louis’ to help raisefunds on his way to Long Island, New York for his transatlantic flight in 1927.Carolyn and Bill, Sr. went to the Hollywood Theater and they both won prizes in a drawing there;Carolyn a bicycle, Bill, Sr. an electric scooter. Jim Rockwell, a neighbor who was an engineer workingfor Powel Crosley, Jr., taught Bill, Sr. radio construction, design and repair. Bill, Sr., only 13, started theVictory Radio Repair Service out of his parent’s basement, using his new scooter to pick up and deliverthe repaired radios for free.When Angert Radio and Appliance Company opened in 1944 in the Dixon building, there weren’tmany appliances because of the war. There was a waiting list and when a new refrigerator was received,either you accepted that one or it was offered to the next person on the list. Likewise for stoves. By nowBill, Sr. was in high school and he moved his repair shop into a corner of the store with the limited hoursof 4:00 to 9:00 PM. During the years of W.W. II repair parts were hard to purchase so Ed would drivethrough small towns in Ohio and Indiana buying up old radios for the necessary parts.Bill, Jr. said in an interview, 3 “They sold flashlights, batteries, lamps, light bulbs and attempted topurchase and sell radios, Victrolas and small appliances, but they were difficult to find. They obtainedwringer washers that had no electric motors because of war production shortages. My grandfather againhit the road trying to buy motors from hardware suppliers to put together a complete product.In 1946, Angert’s became the first franchised radio dealer in Greater Cincinnati and expanded intoinstalling roof-mounted antennas. A few years later, we sold the first color television in Cincinnati.”The original store was on the right side of today’s H&R Block Tax Service. The store was expandedby breaking a wall into the other side of the store. Next to Angert’s on the left was Turner’s Deli. Hisspecialty was boiled ham and Turner’s made noontime sandwiches for everyone around, especially thepost office employees. Where Angert’s Appliances is today was originally the post office, before a newbuilding was erected on Cedar Avenue. A pharmacy was on the corner of the Dixon Building with aKroger’s grocery next to it-both are now the College Hill Coffee Company.3 Source: William Angert, Jr., Family Beats the Big Boxes, John Rogers.262