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

family are related by marriage. When Charles died, his sons, Andrew Thomas Forbes, Willis H. Forbesand George Forbes continued the business. Thomas broke away, leaving Willis and George in businesstogether. George died at a young age and Willis then stayed in the business alone, calling it in 1904, W.H. Forbes. When his son, Willis Forbes, Jr., joined the business in 1929 it was renamed W.H. Forbes &Son. Willis, Sr. died in 1944. When his son returned from the South Pacific of W. W. II in 1945 heresumed the business until he retired in 1978.It was a combination of good fortune, craftsmanship and money that one staircase and three rooms ofWilliam Cary’s house, the first brick home (1816) in College Hill, were moved and preserved in theCincinnati Art Museum. For nine years Mrs. Samuel Joseph 8 , owner of the Hy Pure Drug Company, hadwanted to present a group of house interiors to the Museum in her husband’s memory. Then one day in1938 I was just driving along Hamilton Ave. and saw an old home being wrecked. This house had beenthe home of John Dupps and was being torn down to build the Hodapp Funeral Home. The building wasin excellent condition with hand hewn timbers. Mr. Siple, Director of the Art Museum and Mrs. Josephchose the rooms and hallway to be saved from among the still standing rooms in the Cary house.W. H. Forbes and his son, Willis S. Forbes, were the contractors for the disassembly, moving andrestoration of the rooms in the Museum. According to Mrs. Joseph: They did the work with loving care,searching for old nails, hardware and boards as examples if the carpentry of the period. The cost for theentire job was $4,170 and it took one year.Mr. A. Lincoln Fechheimer was responsible for planning the Museum interiors and Benjamin Ihorst,an architect who lived across the street from the Forbes’, was instrumental in getting Mrs. Joseph tosponsor the purchasing of a set of rooms to donate to the Museum.By the time of demolition, the Cary house was unfurnished and Mrs. Joseph loaned her collection ofearly American antiques, which were in the style of the period, for display. The ‘Joseph Rooms’ werededicated May 10, 1939. The robin’s egg blue woodwork was authentic to the color that the Carys used.The reassembled rooms were identical to the way they originally stood, except for a mantel that waspurchased in northern Kentucky.By 1948 most of the loaned furniture was returned to the owners and the rooms were reopened in1952 furnished from the Museum’s own collections. 9The Linden/Park Hotel 10 Mr. & Mrs. John Henderson purchased the land at the intersection ofCincinnati and Hamilton Turnpike and North Bend Road from the William Cary estate on Oct. 25, 1890.Henderson sold the land to Adam Gray, of the City Insurance Company and a land speculator, in 1892.Mr. Gray sold a portion of the original parcel to the Cincinnati & Hamilton Electric Street Rail Companyon July 13, 1898, for $3,000 with the stipulation that ...for ten years no saloon purposes in the sale ofintoxicating liquor, malt beverages or wine to be sold... or the property would revert back to Adam Grayand heirs. Gray sold the remaining tract of land to Lewis Hauck in 1899. At that time, this land was notconsidered part of College Hill.In 1887 the Village of College Hill passed Ordinance 527 which prohibited ale, beer and porterhouses within the community. It wasn’t until Dec. 19, 1910 that #527 was repealed.When the John Hauck Brewing Company owned the land, the Linden/Park hotel was built.The Linden/Park was a resident hotel and had a large ballroom where dances were frequently held.Both the porch and lawn held tables and chairs and on Saturday nights people gathered there to hear theorchestra. People also came out on the street car just to stand on the sidewalk outside of the hotel andlisten to the music.William F. Biddle was the proprietor of the Park Hotel and George Murrison from Scotland was the8 Times-Star, Iphigene Bettman HEREABOUTS, 3 October 1952.9 Community Resource for Enriching the 5th Grade Social Studies Program in the College Hill Schools, Marion Dinkelaker, thesis, 1952.10 Contributed by Mrs. Karen Forbes Nutting.264